Dragon's Blood
by Sol Winterfang71
Summary: Normally, I don't care about other people, but...there's something about that woman that makes it impossible for me to NOT think about her. Or her body. Geez, Kaa-chan always did warn me in her scrolls that Slayers don't exactly find mates like other people usually do...HEY! DON'T DIS THE TAIL, YOU SON OF A-! Rated M Strong!Foul-Mouthed!Foul-Tempered!Naruto NaruXAnko
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Dragon's Blood

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Chapter One

"...Do I have to?" The young man inquired coldly, yet with a hint of trepidation. He wasn't afraid of others. He wasn't afraid of anything. He just didn't _like_ others and they usually didn't like him either. He was the last Slayer alive; an Uzumaki who had activated an ancient bloodline that had eventually been diluted through the ages. At the age of seven, he had been attacked by a group of chuunin seeking to kill the 'demon', the attempt on his life causing him to 'Awaken', which was the first stage of the bloodline. After that, he fled the village and wandered around the world for the past ten years, gradually coming to control and master his bloodline. It wasn't until almost a year ago that he returned to Konoha and took to living in a cave just beyond the village's outskirts, having found caves far more comfortable than normal houses or apartments.

Now, however, he was being forced into attending the Academy by the Sandaime Hokage in order to take the genin exam...

"Yes, Naruto. You can't keep hiding forever." The elderly Sandaime Hokage replied softly with a warm smile, having become something akin to a grandfather to the young man. They stood outside of a classroom in the Academy with Hiruzen in his Hokage robes like usual while Naruto was hidden beneath a hooded black cloak. Sighing heavily, Naruto slowly and reluctantly removed the final barrier between him and the world, passing it over to the Hokage.

Standing at 6'5" with a muscular and lean build and a feral aura, Naruto had bronzed skin that was almost the color of caramel, an array of dark crimson tribal markings covering his body with smaller, more intricate white tribal markings inside the red markings. His once golden blonde hair was now a dark maroon, reaching down to his waist in a shaggy mane that was pulled back into a low pony-tail while his bangs framed his face in rugged curtains that hung down below his broad and muscled chest. His once bright and ever cheerful blue eyes were now a menacing ruby with thin black slit pupils in either iris as both red discs floated in pools of ink darker than night. In his jaws, he had four sharp fang-like canine teeth that stuck out from behind his lips slightly amongst teeth that were sharper than what was normal, his finger tips were armed with pitch black claws confirmed to be sharp enough to rip and shred metal as if it were paper while shorter black claws of identical strength adorned his toes, and his ears were slightly longer than normal and pointed. Three dark crimson markings decorated either of his cheeks that trailed down the sides of his neck and curled forward, connecting in the center of his chest where they formed a ring around a white circle. Decorating his entire back was a set of dark crimson tribal markings that formed an image of stylized over-lapping scale-like designs, the intricate white markings that filled the red markings giving the image better detail and clarity.

Like usual, he was dressed in a pair of baggy dark crimson pants that lightly dragged on the ground and hid his feet from view while white tribal flames decorated the leggings from the cuffs up to his knees, a pure white rope tied around his waist for a belt with the two ends having been dyed blood red, white cloth wrapped around his hands and forearms that left only his clawed fingers uncovered, a pair of dark crimson ANBU-style bracers strapped to his forearms over the wrappings with an additional plate covering the back of his hands, white cloth wrapped around his feet and ankles that left his toes and heels uncovered, dark crimson greaves strapped to his shins over the wrappings that included an armored plate that covered the tops of his feet, and a dark green three-inch long hexagonal gem hanging from a black cord with a pair of large four-inch long fangs flanking the crystal. Crossed behind his waist were a pair of short swords made from what seemed like giant fangs or bones that had been shaved and sharpened into dangerous weapons with black leather wrapped around the foot-long handles while the narrow and slightly curved 'blades' were roughly two and a half feet in length.

The only thing he didn't like about himself was the fact he was so big...but at least it was better than being a scrawny midget, in his opinion...

"...Are you sure there isn't another way?" Naruto asked quietly, casting a mildly hesitant side-long glance at his surrogate grandfather. Hiruzen could only smile and chuckle at the young man's reluctance. He couldn't blame him. Wordlessly, Hiruzen ushered him into the classroom, disappearing via Shunshin before Naruto could turn around. Growling quietly under his breath with a slight snarl, Naruto turned to face forward again, only to go silent and freeze in place, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of so many people being in one room.

"Uzumaki Naruto, correct?" The scarred chuunin inquired, getting a slight nod from Naruto as he recomposed himself and looked at the man, who was a little unsettled by his eyes and over-all appearance. General reaction. Nothing to worry about. The chuunin then smiled, introducing himself. "I'm Umino Iruka, but for the remainder of the day, please just call me Iruka-sensei. Now, if you'll please go have a seat, we'll get started with the genin exams."

"..." Naruto was silent as he turned his gaze back to the rest of the classroom, searching for a spot that would prove beneficial and amiably comfortable while idly noticing how they all looked a couple years younger than himself. Spotting a young Hyuuga woman in the back that was blushing and looked away briskly when he looked in her direction, Naruto decided she would prove the least...abrasive. Sitting down, Naruto forced a small smile on his face, deciding to politely introduce himself to her. "Hello, I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

"H-Hyuuga Hinata. N-N-Nice to me...meet you, N-Naruto-kun..." Hinata replied shyly, blushing even more furiously as she gazed down at the hands folded in her lap, fidgeting slightly. Glancing at the young woman, Naruto gave her a once over, examining her more closely than he had while searching for a place to sit.

Standing at an even five feet, fifteen year old Hyuuga Hinata held a slender and lithe frame that was hidden beneath a pair of baggy and airy pants with slits in the sides at her hips, a black skin-tight backless and sleeve-less top that did little to hide her impressive D-cup bust and slim waist, black skin-tight arm warmers that went from her wrists up to the middle of her biceps, a lavender colored sash wrapped around her waist, a pair of black shinobi sandals on her feet, and a baggy lavender hoodie over her top with white sleeves and lavender cuffs. Her eyes were the usual pupil-less white as all Hyuuga, but her gaze was soft and kind-hearted. Her skin was a pale cream color and unblemished, the smooth curtain of waist-length obsidian hair contrasting heavily with her complexion. He could only assume it was 'normal' for her, but she had the hood pulled over her head with her hair pulled forward over her left shoulder and her hands were hidden inside the cuffs of her sleeves, looking almost as if she just wanted to disappear into her jacket.

Finding her to be quite beautiful, if not strangely shy, Naruto closed his eyes and adjusted his position, crossing his legs under him as he folded his hands in his lap with his knuckles pressed against each other. While not exactly meditating, it was simply something he did to relax. It also helped pass the time. The only bad thing was that he had to pay attention to how 'deep' of a state he entered because of his powerful elemental affinities. If he reached a certain point, his elements would manifest around him and it had a high risk of injuring someone. _Especially_, his Fire element.

"...maki Naruto!" Iruka called out, his voice cutting into Naruto's thoughts after what felt like seconds had passed. Slowly opening his eyes, Naruto looked up at the chuunin to find the man smiling at him once more. After the man motioned for Naruto to join him at the front of the class, Iruka cradled his clipboard in preparation to grade the genin-hopeful. "Alright, we'll be doing the ninjutsu portion, so if you don't mind, could you perform the Bunshin, Henge, and the Kawarimi, please?"

"...Kage Bunshin." Naruto muttered quietly without forming a single handseal while two exact and solid copies of himself came into existence via clouds of smoke, all three simply standing there with their arms crossed over their chests. While Iruka was shocked, the chuunin had been 'warned' of Naruto having excessively high amounts of chakra, keeping him from performing certain aspects unlike others his age. It's not like more advanced clone techniques weren't allowed. Even a couple of the students that were expected to pass knew at least one. That was when Naruto performed the Henge without a stating the name of the technique and making a handseal, each of them changing into one of the three deceased Hokages of Konoha without leaving their previous stances; the Shodaime, Nidaime, and Yondaime, all standing there with their arms crossed over their chests. Without a sound or handseal, the clones dispelled their disguises before dispelling themselves a moment later, revealing Naruto to be on the left instead of in the middle like he had been earlier. "..."

"Excellent. Now, I've already been told you can't perform genjutsu, but it is required that you at least know how to detect and break out of one." Iruka stated before his assistant, another chuunin, stood up and went through a couple handseals before Naruto felt the genjutsu take hold. It was a really basic one that simply robbed a person of their sense of smell. He honestly felt insulted by the pathetic illusion and snorted, expelling a whisp of black smoke. Instantly, the illusion was broken from him gathering a hint of chakra in his lungs to create the smoke, entirely out of habit, but it was enough to break the E-rank genjutsu. "Good, good. You can go sit back down now, Naruto-san."

Rolling his eyes, Naruto walked back to his chosen spot beside Hinata and returned to his previous posture, but this time he kept his eyes open, glancing around the room lazily. He was honestly confused as to how someone could fail that test. It was truly pathetic, really. Naruto was sure he could pass it in his sleep. Cocking an eye brow, he noticed several of the girls in the room giving him strange looks while even more were giving the same looks towards a black haired teen that Naruto suspected to be Uchiha Sasuke. The towering tattooed titan of an Uzumaki snorted again, dismissing the sole surviving Uchiha as nothing more than an emotionally disfunctional and mentally destabilized adolescent. There was nothing special about him, his bloodline, or his deceased kin.

After glancing over the rest of the students in the room, Naruto found himself focusing back on the girl beside him; Hinata. Everything about her was a contradiction to the general personality of her clan. Where they were arrogant and stubborn in their ways, Hinata was shy and submissive. While other Hyuuga had the same solid white eyes, Hinata's were a soft and faint shade of lavender. Even the way she dressed was completely different. Albeit, still baggy, Hyuuga normally preferred robe-like attire while Hinata seemed to prefer something she could easily 'hide' in. Making a mental note to assist the poor girl with her obvious self-confidence issues should they be placed on the same team, Naruto sighed quietly and focused back on the front of the class.

It was only a couple minutes before they were led outside to the Academy's training ground set up behind the facility. Forced to stand, Naruto simply crossed his arms over his chest and waited for his name to be called for the Taijutsu portion of the genin exams. Much like the ninjutsu portion, they were being called alphabetically. This only annoyed Naruto, especially when he realized that none of the other students were all that skilled in taijutsu with the only exception being a few of the clan heirs. A quiet, yet rumbling growl formed in his chest and throat as he realized he would be stuck with a bunch of brats that couldn't do a damn thing. He just _knew_ it was a bad idea. Why couldn't he have just left and become a wandering mercenary or something? It would have been so much simpler and more enjoyable...

"Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto! You're up!" Iruka called out. Sighing heavily, Naruto pushed his way to the front of the crowd and stepped into the designated sparring circle drawn into the soil via white chalk powder. When Sasuke stepped in, Naruto winced at the volume of the rabid fangirls' screaming.

"Damn banshees..." Naruto snarled under his breath with a snort, causing another whisp of black smoke to escape his nostrils. Facing his opponent, Naruto waited for the Uchiha to enter his taijutsu stance before slipping into his own. Bending his legs at the knee and spreading his feet apart until they were a little more than shoulder-width, Naruto kept his left side to Sasuke while bending his left arm with his tensed and partialy curled fingers held at his eye level, his right hand held similarly just above his right hip. Across from him, an arrogant smirk formed on Sasuke's face as he locked gazes with Naruto. The red head's eyes narrowed with destructive anger as he remained stoic, his mouth parting slightly and letting twin streams of black smoke ooze out of the corners of his mouth. The damn brat was pissing him off...

"Hajime!" Iruka called out. Sasuke didn't even have time to blink before Naruto made his move, digging his left foot into the ground while swinging his right foot around, purposefully dragging the claws of his right foot along the ground. Swinging the foot up as it came around in front of him, Naruto kicked some dirt into Sasuke's face, forcing the Uchiha to close his eyes and look away to avoid getting any in his eyes. While he was distracted, Naruto swiftly stomped his right foot back down before swinging his left foot up, catching Sasuke in the ribs on his right side with enough force to crack one and bend the Uchiha over his shin for a moment. Moving just as quick as before, Naruto swung his left foot back down while kicking off the ground, only to slam his right foot into Sasuke's left flank in the same manner, cracking another rib before the Uchiha was sent tumbling a few feet.

"Ah!" Sasuke cried out in pain briefly, stumbling slightly as he got back up onto his feet while trying to ignore the pain in his sides. Glaring daggers at his red haired opponent, Sasuke balled his hands up into fists once more and charged in for an attack. Without warning, Naruto took a single step forward and thrust his right fist into Sasuke's stomach once he was within range, doubling him over, only to retract his hand and bring his right knee up, bashing it into the Uchiha's face. As Sasuke was knocked back up into a standing position, Naruto, having cocked his right hand back again, slammed his right palm into Sasuke's chest, launching him back towards the edge of the ring. Shifting back into his beginning stance, Naruto snorted once more, exhaling yet another whisp of smoke. Scrambling to his feet, Sasuke glared at Naruto with enough hatred that the Slayer thought he was about to spontaneously combust into flames; it wouldn't do much, but it would be some-what amusing if it actually happened. It was only a few seconds before Sasuke came at him again.

"You're going to pay for that!" The Uchiha snarled as he attempted to kick Naruto in the head with a roundhouse with his left foot that was surprisingly swift, but not quick enough to catch Naruto off guard. Instantly, he rose his right hand and blocked the kick with his forearm before lashing out with a powerful left jab that caught Sasuke in the jaw, knocking him back again. However, Naruto didn't let it stop there and stepped into Sasuke's guard while he was disoriented. Grabbing the slightly dazed Uchiha by the collar of his top, Naruto let a fanged grin spread across his face while leaning back.

"Ryuu no Monshou!" Naruto roared before suddenly headbutting Sasuke in the face, flooring the Uchiha and knocking him out in an instant while breaking his nose. As the victor was declared by Mizuki, Iruka came running over to check on Sasuke. Snorting out another breath of black smoke, Naruto crossed his arms and stepped back. "The brat is fine. Too bad his pride is going be scarred for the rest of his life..."

"Mizuki! Keep an eye on the class while I take Sasuke to the nurse to make sure he's okay." Iruka ordered of the other chuunin before Shunshin-ing out of the area with Sasuke's unconscious form. Snorting more heavily than before, Naruto narrowed his eyes and walked back to where he had been earlier, only to have a tiny hand grab his arm to turn him around. He didn't even react as a second one became a fist and struck him across the cheek, but it barely even made his head move, let alone turn his head to the side. He hadn't even felt it. The other person, however, was cradling their most likely broken hand and glaring at him venomously.

"How dare you hurt Sasuke-kun like that?! Who do you think you are?!" Ami, if he recalled right, screamed. Naruto simply stared at her coldly before wrapping his left hand around her face and lifting her off the ground, a slight snarl of anger forming on his face. Those around them could only watch with hesitance and slight fear as they watched the giant easily lift someone off the ground with a single hand by holding onto their face. That, and he had effortlessly and ruthlessly taken down Sasuke, the supposed 'Rookie of the Year', with only a handful of moves.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto and the last Slayer alive. I will _not_ tolerate your attempts to hurt me and insult me nor will I tolerate those of any other. This time, I'll let it slide, but if you do that again..." Naruto trailed off for a moment, squeezing a little harder, just enough to make the purple haired girl cry out faintly, before tossing her back to cower away from him in terror. "...You will soon regret provoking me and meet a swift end shortly after."

"Heh...Sleeping dragon, much?" Inuzuka Kiba teased with Akimichi Chouji. They immediately tensed up when Naruto glanced at them over his shoulder with a smirk, his eyes narrowed slightly with amusement. He liked the sound of that; a sleeping dragon. What better way to describe him than as such? Ignoring the others, Naruto returned to his spot at the back of the crowd, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back against a tree. His smirk became a slight frown, however, when he realized it wouldn't be much longer before he 'Ascended', achieving the next level of his bloodline. He internally dreaded that day, knowing his life would only get more...irritating...afterwards.

_'Why do Slayers have to keep 'evolving'?'_ Naruto mentally grumbled as he slouched slightly for a moment...

xXx

"Grrrrrrrr..." A long and deep growl continued to rumble in Naruto's chest as he sat at the back of the class by himself, black smoke oozing from his nostrils as he glared at the far wall with his arms crossed over his chest, his Konoha hitai-ate tied around his left bicep on a strip of black cloth. He had been assigned to a team, but not just any team. No, it had to be _that_ one. Team 7, under Hatake Kakashi, consisted of himself, Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuuga Hinata. What angered him so much about the team assignment was the fact he had been placed with the Uchiha. That and their sensei was two hours late. He was just thankful that the purple haired banshee from earlier had failed the taijutsu portion and the accuracy test, resulting in her failure to graduate to genin.

"Grrr...Fuck this. I'm going somewhere else." Naruto finally snarled as he stood up and moved to leave, only to have the door slide open and reveal the one-eyed jounin that was to be their sensei. Clenching his jaw tight, Naruto glared into Kakashi's lone eye before snorting out a puff of onyx smog in the jounin's face before stepping aside to let him in. "You're _late_."

"...I got lost on the road to Life..." Kakashi lied pitifully, succeeding only in making Naruto snort out another cloud of black smoke while Hinata gained a slight frown on her face with Sasuke simply glaring heatedly at Naruto, plotting his revenge against the red head. Eye smiling at them, he motioned for his new students to follow him before leading them to the roof. Sasuke and Hinata sat down on the steps to the balcony while Naruto leaned back against the railing of said balcony behind them, his arms crossed over his chest and eyes locked on the jounin. "Okay...Let's begin with some introductions. I'll go first to start things off. I am Hatake Kakashi and I have no real desire to tell you my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hm...Oh, and I have lots of hobbies. You're next, Smoky."

"...My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I am the last living Slayer of the Uzumaki clan." Naruto began with a growl and a glare at first, irritated by the nickname. His mentioning of being a Slayer confused Hinata slightly, didn't phase Sasuke, and made Kakashi's lone eye widen slightly in surprise. "I like fire, caves, and meat. I dislike arrogance, ignorance, stupidity in general, cowardice, and I will not tolerate the mistreatment of females. My dream...is personal and I refuse to share it. As for my hobbies...Training and sleeping."

"I didn't think 'sleeping' could be considered a hobby, but okay...You're up, White Eyes." Kakashi remarked, making Hinata seemingly sink further into her jacket at the apparent monicker she had earned herself due to her clan's eyes and doujutsu.

"I-I'm Hyuuga Hinata." The dark haired young woman responded, her voice soft-spoken and timid with a slight stutter, but it did catch more of Naruto's attention. He narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering what had happened to make her so nervous and submissive before silently vowing to do whatever he had to in order to fix that problem. "I-I like g-gardening and f-flowers. I d-don't like bu...bullies, fighting, o-or needless vi-violence. My hobbies are making different medicines using the herbs I grow in my garden. M-My d-dream is to one d-day unite the M-Main and B-Branch Houses of the Hyu-Hyuuga clan and abolish the Ca...Caged Bird Seal."

"Your turn, Sunshine." Kakashi stated calmly. Completely disregarding what the Uchiha had to say, Naruto focused his attention on a lizard that was on the railing beside him. It was an unusual one that Naruto found quite interesting due to its coloration; its body was a turquoise blue with dark maroon stripes running horizontally across its back with a dark maroon ring on top of its head that had a small dark maroon dot in the center of it, its under-belly being a biege-ish color while its eyes were a unique red-orange with black vertically slit pupils. Slowly lowering his hand down to the railing, Naruto was kind of intrigued when it fearlessly crawled into his palm. Lifting it up so that it was eye level with him, he maintained his blank look of disinterest as he entered a staring contest of sorts with the gecko up until he heard someone laugh about something, making Naruto jump slightly and blush ever so faintly, but it was hard to tell due to the red markings on his face.

"Hm? What'd I miss?" Naruto mumbled as he glanced over at Kakashi, who was eye smiling at him and chuckling still. That was when Naruto realized that they were the only ones there...

"You've been staring at that lizard for more than ten minutes now. The others have already left." He commented, making Naruto sigh heavily before gently setting the gecko back down on the railing and turning to leave while stuffing his hands in his pockets. Before he got too far, Kakashi called out to him while lazily walking after him. "I was wondering if you'd answer a few questions for me. Would you mind?"

"...You're a lazy fool with no sense of time, but fine. Ask your questions." Naruto remarked, regaining his rather cold and somewhat cruel demeanor as he stopped and turned to Kakashi, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Earlier, you mentioned you were a Slayer. I once knew an Uzumaki and she mentioned that name once before. Would you mind explaining what a Slayer is?" The jounin inquired, making Naruto sigh, knowing that Kakashi was talking about his mother. Not wanting to be over heard by anyone that might be listening in on their conversation, Naruto suddenly grabbed Kakashi by his flak vest before using a Shunshin that surrounded them in a swirling vortex of fire that died out a moment later. Reappearing outside of the entrance to his 'cave', Naruto released the man and motioned for him to follow. "...What are we doing here?"

"I don't want others hearing what I'm undoubtedly going to end up telling you. I may mention that I'm a Slayer rather openly, but I like to keep the details a secret from other people." Naruto responded as he led the jounin down the dark tunnel that had only a few torches scattered along the wall down its length, leaving large pockets of shadow. After a couple minutes, they eventually reached a large open chamber. Kakashi could only stare on in amazement, finding it to be a hidden paradise of sorts.

Taking up most, if not all, of the chamber was a large, natural pool of cool, crystal clear water that was easily two hundred meters in diameter with a circular opening in the ceiling directly over it almost a hundred feet above that was only about seventy-five meters across. Sitting in the center of the pool was a fifty meter wide island of smooth stone with a narrow path of smooth river rocks leading from the shore in front of the tunnel to the island and from the back of the island to the other side of the lake. Two steel posts stuck out of the rock at one side with a large hammock hanging from them while what appeared to be an anvil, a hammer, a pile of unshaped metal, and a pile of random metal objects sat off at the other end of the island. Hanging from the edge of the hole above the island were innumerable leafy vines that nearly reached all the way down to the water, creating a privacy curtain of sorts around the island while even more vines stretched out across the hole to the other side, creating a natural screen of shade that kept the lighting at a comfortable level. Kakashi noticed another tunnel at the back of the chamber, but he couldn't see anything beyond that due to the black bear fur veiling the opening; he could only assume it was Naruto's bedroom or something.

"Come. Sit." Naruto offered as he took a seat on a large, smooth rock at the edge of the water with his legs crossed under him and his hands folded in his lap, his knuckles pressed together; just as he had been sitting while back in the classroom. Kakashi sat down on a second rock that was a couple feet away from the one Naruto was sitting on. "You asked what a Slayer was, correct? A Slayer is an Uzumaki that has awakened a very ancient and powerful bloodline that had once been thought lost to us. It had become so rare that the last Slayer to awaken their Kirinketsu before me died almost fifty years before the Shodaime founded Konoha with the Uchiha clan. As of now, I am both the last known living Uzumaki and the only Slayer left, but a strange anomoly about me is that my Slayer blood is much more potent than what it normal should be due to my ancestry and lineage."

"I see. However, it doesn't exactly answer my question fully. What is this bloodline you speak of? What makes it as powerful as you say it is?" Kakashi inquired, but he figured he already knew the answer after glancing over Naruto's tattoos and seeing him breathe smoke several times already.

"The bloodline is called Kirinketsu and it has multiple stages. The first is the Awakened stage, which is actually where I am right now, but I'll soon be achieving the next stage, which is the Ascended stage. When a Slayer activates their Kirinketsu, they are considered Awakened Slayers and develop the same markings that I myself bear, but at a progressive rate, showing how far they are in their training and how close they are to reaching the Ascended Stage. They also gain a very powerful Fire affinity alongside their natural element, or elements, which are Earth and Water for me." Naruto explained, turning his eyes over to the still mirror-like surface of the water beside him. "Like I just said, the Ascended stage is the next level. When a Slayer reaches that stage, they will sometimes grow a pair of horns on their head and always start to develop armor-like scales on their body. Some have even been reported to grow a tail, but that was a rare trait even when Slayers were common. Anyway, the third stage is that of the Adult Stage, which is mostly just a medium between the Ascended Stage and the final level, the Elder Stage. In the Adult Stage, the Slayer's scales will grow denser and thicker along with spreading a little more while their abilities will be boosted such as a faster healing factor, hotter flames, greater physical strength, and the like. Adult Stage Slayers will also always grow horns if they didn't have them already alongside gaining another boost in their abilities and their scales spreading a bit more. In the last stage, the Elder Stage, the Slayer's scales will spread to a couple more places on their body, their horns will grow more prominent, and Elders have been reported to grow wings that actually gave them the capability to fly, but _very_ few Slayers ever lived long enough to reach that stage mostly due to the wars; the Clan Wars, to be specific. While everything isn't quite that simple, I'm sure you understand that I can't simply reveal everything about my bloodline to you, seeing as you are not one of my clan nor is there a proper reason for me to explain everything to you."

"No, that's alright..." Kakashi, despite the response, was rendered speechless for a few moments by the knowledge, his lone visible eye wide with surprise. "If you don't mind me asking...just what can a Slayer do?"

"As I mentioned earlier, we have very powerful elemental affinities. One is _always_ Fire. The other element, or elements, vary depending on the person. These powerful affinities allow Slayers to utilize raw elemental chakra manipulation in combat instead of having to rely on ninjutsu. An example of which is one of the most basic abilities a Slayer has; it is the ability to actually breathe fire and not in the form of a Katon technique." Naruto explained and just to insure Kakashi got the point, Naruto turned his head to the side before taking a deep breath and exhaling, breathing out a stream of white-hot flame that made Kakashi recoil slightly due to the seering heat that accosted him from several feet away. Stopping and facing Kakashi once more as black smoke leaked out from his mouth, Naruto lazily waved his hand to clear the smog from in front of his face. "We are also gifted with great physical strength that allows us to crush even diamonds in our fists during the later stages of our bloodline's evolutionary cycle, we have powerful natural healing abilities that grow stronger as our Kirinketsu awakens further, a longer life span than what is considered normal due to our originating Uzumaki lineage, and we're very agile, but the level of such usually depends upon the Slayer's build like it normally would for anyone else. Other than that, most of what we can do is limited by our will and what we learn from the clan scrolls. However, I am quite sure you already know, but I am not just a Slayer..."

"...You mean the Kyuubi, right?" Kakashi inquired seriously, getting a nod from Naruto.

"Yes. On the night of my birth, it attacked Konoha and was sealed into me by the Yondaime; you're sensei, might I add." Naruto began while locking gazes with the cyclopian jounin. "Anyway, I figured I would warn you of that because I do not know how I will behave while progressing to the Ascended stage. I might go into a berserker rage if the Kyuubi acts up. For now, that's all I will tell you."

"...Alright. Thank you for your time. Oh, and don't forget to come to Training Ground 13 by sunrise tomorrow morning." Kakashi responded before standing up and walking away, heading down the tunnel towards the exit. Watching the man leave, Naruto sighed quietly before standing and stretching.

"Hmm...barbeque sounds good right about now..." Naruto mumbled to himself as he stood up, scratching under his chin as he made to leave his humble abode in search of dinner...

xXx

Kakashi was far from weak. He had made jounin at the age of thirteen. He was among the strongest of jounin in Konoha. He had been trained by the Yondaime Hokage himself. He had a Sharingan for a left eye. He had participated in and survived the Third Great War. He had been an ANBU Captain. He had copied a thousand techniques...

So why was he getting thrashed so badly by one of his prospective students? One that was self-taught, at that?

"Gah!" The wind was forcefully evicted from Kakashi's lungs as a large tattooed fist buried itself in his gut with the strength to lift him several inches off the ground, only to be retracted while the other came down and slammed into his upper back, smashing the jounin down into the ground. Or rather, he would have been had he not used Kawarimi to replace himself with a log at the last second. Staring down at the crushed remnants of splintered and mulched wood that his right fist still sat in, Naruto snorted out another puff of black smoke before standing up straight again and dusting his hands off.

_'God, that kid's a taijutsu monster! Worse than Gai was at that age!'_ Kakashi mentally cried as he remained hidden amongst the branches of a tree, still holding his stomach in agony. He was pretty sure he had at least three cracked bones in his body, if not more, and that last blow he took to his stomach felt like he was just hit with an Oni's club. Sighing heavily as the pain started fading away slightly, Kakashi leaned his head back against the tree trunk. _'This just isn't my day, is it?'_

Not only that, but after being backed into a corner at one point and forced to use a low-level Katon technique, Kakashi had discovered a rather startling fact about his student; he was fire-proof, a side-effect of having such a high Fire affinity. Naruto's skin was also far denser than normal due to his abnormally high Earth affinity, making things even more difficult when it came to trying to cut him with a simple kunai when in close-quarters while thrown kunai and shuriken just didn't have the penetrating power to do little more than scratch and poke him, drawing only a few drops of blood at best. On top of all of this, Naruto was shockingly quick for someone of his size and had ungodly strength that, if Kakashi didn't know any better, the jounin would have sworn Naruto had been taught by Tsunade.

"This is getting boring..." Naruto muttered to himself. Smirking faintly to himself, he found it entertaining how Kakashi had yet to realize that the red head had stolen the bells from the man not long after engaging him in taijutsu. What annoyed him, however, was the apparent purpose for Kakashi's little test. The man wanted them to work together, but Naruto knew that it was virtually impossible to work with the Uchiha brat and he didn't even know the brat. He knew the team was doomed from the start, but that didn't mean Naruto was going to sit back and get sent back to the Academy, which he would undoubtedly be forced to attend by the Sandaime until he was placed on another team. Creating a Kage Bunshin, Naruto watched as it grinned fiendishly before leaping into the tree line. A moment later, a loud crash was heard before a tree started falling over, only for Kakashi to flee the forest in an attempt to put distance between himself and Naruto's clone.

"That should keep him busy for now." Naruto mumbled before creating two more Kage Bunshin and passing a bell to either of them. "Locate the other two and give them a bell. Hinata should be rather easy to deal with, but if Sasuke starts getting out of hand, just knock him out and leave the bell in his pocket or something..."

"Hai." Both of his clones responded before taking off in search of their targets. Heading off to where his clone had chased after Kakashi, Naruto let a fanged grin split his face as he grabbed the leather-bound handles of his rather 'primitive' looking weapons without drawing them just yet. Coming to a stop on a thick branch in a crouch with his hands still resting on the handles of his swords, Naruto's grin grew a bit more as he watched his clone continue to simply smash through every guard Kakashi threw up in order to protect himself. It was obvious that he was better in taijutsu, but Naruto was curious as to whether Kakashi was any good at kenjutsu...

"Well, let's find out." The red head mumbled to himself as he leapt from the branch just as Kakashi managed to dispell his clone with a well-placed rabbit punch to the neck, drawing his bone-like swords as he descended upon the man with a fanged grin...

xXx

"Hm...It seems like Kakashi is late once again..." The Sandaime Hokage grumbled quietly as the other jounin that had taken up teams stood before him along with a few others that simply wanted to attend. The next moment, however, the door opened and a very exhausted Kakashi stumbled into the room, his singed clothes still smoking with small rips and tears throughout it, his lone visible eye wide and unfocused, a few scratches dotting his limbs, he was covered in more than enough bruises for an entire group, he looked rather well concussed, and he was missing his left sandal for some reason. While the crowd of jounin instantly broke out into mutterings and whispers, Hiruzen took one look at Kakashi and sighed. "I take it they passed?"

"Y-Ye-_cough_-Yeah...Team 7 passes..." Kakashi managed to get out, literally coughing up a bit of smoke as he sunk into one of the few chairs in the room. Walking over to the dazed jounin, Anko, with a look of unconvinced confusion, licked the tip of her index finger and thumb before putting out the small flame burning at the end of a few of Kakashi's hairs.

"So, you're saying a couple of genin did this to you? Impossible." The twenty-four year old purple haired tokubetsu jounin inquired and then stated, but her look of confusion intensified when Kakashi shook his head, only for her eyes to go wide with shock, along with those of the others present, when Kakashi spoke up again.

"Not a team...just one...Just one great, big, brute..." He corrected a bit absently and vaguely, obviously still suffering from a rather hard blow to the head, making Hiruzen smirk slightly while Anko, and everyone else in the room looked to him for an explanation. Thus, the Sandaime sighed once more.

"He's talking about one Uzumaki Naruto, a newly graduated genin that possesses a bloodline that not even the Councils would dare to mess with." While he was absolutely serious about what he just said, Hiruzen couldn't help chuckling at the looks of shock and the whispered disbeliefs from the assembled jounin. Well, at least the ones currently capable of coherent thought. That's when the kunoichi he saw as a daughter/grand-daughter decided to open her mouth...

"Bullshit! There is _NO_ way a fresh-out-of-the-Academy Genin could do _THIS_-" Anko paused for effect as she jabbed a finger at the still stupified Kakashi. "-to a veteran jounin! Especially one of Kakashi's calibur!"

"Anko...He's a Slayer. You remember what a Slayer is, don't you?" Hiruzen stated calmly and patiently as if he were talking to a child. Anko blinked for a moment as she recalled everything the Sandaime had ever taught her about bloodlines, focusing on the word 'Slayer'. A moment later, she gained a sheepish look and blushed slightly, scratching the back of her neck as she turned her gaze down to the floor. The Hokage merely stared at her for a moment and sighed. "...You forgot, didn't you?"

"Um...Yeah, I did..." Anko answered timidly, looking much like a scolded child at the moment. Once again, Hiruzen sighed, but this time out of exasperation. How was it possible for a grown woman to go from being one of the most talented and, in his opinion, one of the scariest females in Konoha one moment to being so child-like and 'innocent'/immature the next?

"Come see me in my office after the meeting. I'll explain it to you there." The Sandaime stated before shuffling some of the papers on his desk and looking up at the gathered jounin in the room. "Now, on with the meeting. Team One?"

"Failed."

xXx

"Wait, wait, wait! So, this kid has _dragon_ blood running through his veins?!" Anko practically yelled out in shock, drawing a chuckle from Hiruzen while Kakashi, having recomposed himself and changed into a set of fresh clothes, merely sighed at her reaction.

"That's just it's name, Anko, and while his bloodline does share a number of similarities with dragons, there is still no solid evidence that suggests it is actual dragon blood flowing through his body." Kakashi remarked, this time getting another chuckle from the Sandaime along with a knowing smirk from the elderly man. Kakashi narrowed his eye with a deadpan expression. "...Anko was right, wasn't she?"

"Yes, she was." Hiruzen answered while Anko looked like she was just given a life time supply of dango.

"WHOO! IN YOUR FACE, KAKASHI-BAKA!" Anko howled with a shit eating grin as she pumped her fists into the air excitably. Sighing yet again, Hiruzen rubbed his temples, dreading the day Anko and Naruto met. An over-excitable woman with an addiction to scaring people, sharp and/or pointy objects, a strange attraction to blood, and prankster-esque tendencies paired up with a dragon-like juggernaut capable of breathing fire, a very short fuse and anger management problems when it comes to his temper, has a habit of solving 'problems' by setting them on fire, a very vindictive side, and is also a secret master closet-prankster? Konoha would cease to exist if those two became friends...

"Now, as I was say-" Sarutobi Hiruzen was interrupted as Anko ran for the door.

"See ya' later, Old Man! I've got a Dragon Dude to track down!" Was all she yelled over her shoulder before slamming the door shut behind her. As the blood drained from his face, Hiruzen slouched in his comfy chair and stared at the door blankly. The Sandaime's next words would forever haunt Kakashi from then on after questioning the Hokage as to why he said them...

"We're all doomed..."

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Ryuu no Monshou- Dragon's Crest

Kirinketsu- Dragon's Blood


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Just a head's up to my readers; Please read the Author's Note at the end of the chapter after reading said chapter. It holds important information concerning the story itself. Thank you and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Dragon's Blood

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Chapter Two

"Maaan, I _knew_ I should have asked for a description of the kid before I ran off..." Anko whined to herself as she slouched, still walking along the road just as she had been for the past few hours. "I should have asked for at least _one_ little clue about him. At least it would have narrowed down my search..."

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T SERVE MY KIND HERE?!" Someone bellowed from a nearby shop, drawing Anko's attention. Walking up to the shinobi weapon store and slipping inside unnoticed, Anko caught sight of a giant red haired man covered in strange tattoos holding the store clerk by the collar of his shirt after reaching across the counter and pulling him across it to the red head's side, still holding the smaller man by the collar of his shirt with his left hand while said store clerk's feet dangled a few inches off the ground. "What? Just because I don't look like _you_, I'm instantly some kind of demon, you mother-fucker?! I came here to spend _my_ money at _your_ store and you're _complaining_? Just how stupid can you get?!"

_'Holy shit...I don't know whether to be turned on by this dude or worried for the little guy...'_ Anko thought to herself, her eyes wide with shock, before watching as the red head closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm down, snorting out a puff of black smoke as he raised the store clerk back over the counter and calmly set him down. Letting the shaking and scared-shitless man go, he stepped back and held his hands up for a moment, taking another deep breath while simultaneously exhaling a cloud of dark smog as he restrained the urge to burn down the store and cremate the idiot in front of him.

"You know what? You're just like everyone else, looking down on me just because I don't look _normal_. You're not even worth my time, asshole." The red head growled out before turning around and heading towards the door, his black and red eyes momentarily locking with Anko's brown as he passed by her before looking forward again, actually ripping the door off its hinges on his way out just to relieve a bit of anger and letting it lie in the middle of the street as he left. Now curious and suspicious of the man that might just be her original target of interest, Anko left the store and jumped to the nearest roof, following the red head from higher ground and a fair distance from him to reduce the chance of being detected.

_'Geez...I feel kind of bad for the guy, being ostracized just because he doesn't look like everyone else.'_ Anko mused to herself, noticing how the people in the streets were parting to give the red head a wide berth, not wanting to be near him. Thinking back on what little she had actually been told about the 'Slayer', Anko recalled that he hadn't actually been in the village since he was seven when his bloodline awoke and had returned only a year ago, but didn't go out much, if at all, and didn't really have any friends; he hadn't even joined the Academy until just the other day and that was only so he could take the genin exam. From what the Hokage had said, he apparently liked the isolation since most people were either afraid of him or hated him because of his appearance, many referring to him as a 'demon', 'freak', or 'monster'. Anko couldn't stop the frown from forming at the thought or the look of sadness and understanding from showing in her eyes, having been treated similarly due to her past.

"I see you found him." Someone stated from behind her, scaring the shit out of her and through will power alone, Anko stopped herself from screaming while slapping her hands over her mouth. Spinning around and glaring at the person, Kakashi, Anko swore to get him back for that later.

"Damn it, Kakashi! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Anko hissed quietly before turning back around to keep an eye on her 'prey', moving from the roof top she was on and to another in order to keep the unknown red head in her sights with Kakashi following her. After a few moments of silence, Anko's mood became somber once more. "Kakashi...Was his life always like that?"

"Unfortunately, yes." The silver haired jounin stated quietly while putting his Icha Icha book away, watching as Naruto snarled rabidly at a civilian that had decided to openly call the red head a demon and told him to 'go back to Hell, where he belonged', but the genin otherwise ignored him. Without openly telling Anko Naruto's identity, Kakashi decided to drop clues in his explanation of the teen's life, wanting her to figure it out on her own. "When he was younger, his life was far harder than what it is now, but that's only because people don't recognize him anymore. At the age of three, he had been kicked out of the orphanage and was forced to live on the streets. Almost every couple days after that, he would be beaten by drunk civilians. He was sold expired and sometimes poisoned food if they even sold him anything at all, the clothes he had were riddled with holes and dirty since he had to salvage them from trash cans and dumpsters, and every year, he would be _hunted_ by mobs during the annual Kitsune festival..."

"Wait, him, too? I thought the only kid hunted around that time of year was..." Anko trailed off as she started adding things together, recalling that the Sandaime had mentioned Naruto's name back at the meeting. Her eyes widened and she looked back towards the red head. "Naruto? But that's not possible. Naruto had blonde hair and blue eyes when he disappeared, not red hair and red eyes."

"That's because of his bloodline. Actually, almost everything you see about him was caused by his bloodline, including his height, change in hair and eye color, and the tattoos." Kakashi informed as they changed positions once more, both following as Naruto made his way closer and closer to the forest. From what they had seen so far, the only people that didn't see or treat Naruto as a monster were those from the shinobi clans, whether they themselves were ninja or not. Both shinobi dreaded the day people discovered that Naruto was the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The only good thing Kakashi saw that came out of it was the fact Naruto already lived out in the middle of nowhere, making it damn near impossible for them to find him, and his home was a cave, meaning it couldn't be burned down or anything. It still didn't help outweight the cons of such a revelation.

As they continued to follow the red head in silence, Anko couldn't help thinking back to when she was younger and had come across a group of Konoha shinobi attacking a seven year old Naruto on the night he disappeared. Having only been about mid-chuunin in skill and strength back then while also being newly promoted to chuunin, Anko had been engaged by three veteran chuunin that kept her from getting to and protecting Naruto while several others continued to beat the boy. It wasn't long before she had been knocked out by one of the chuunin, only to wake up the next day and discover that Naruto was gone. Unable to forgive herself for that night, Anko had gone into a mild depression before she eventually joined the Torture and Interrogation Division, becoming one of the best they had and progressing in rank as she strove to drown out that part of her past. Now, ten years later, Anko wasn't sure if Naruto even knew she existed, let alone if he knew she had tried to save him that night.

"Anko?" Kakashi asked quietly, noticing how Anko's hands had balled up into fists with her nails digging into her palms. Snapping out of her thoughts, Anko turned her head and looked at the one-eyed jounin, oblivious to the fact her eyes were a little misty with tears that had been wanting to fall. "Are you alright?"

"..." Anko stayed quiet for several minutes as she looked back towards Naruto and noticed that they had reached the forest. Using the sleeve of her trench coat, she quickly dried her eyes and took a deep breath to calm back down. The only people she would let her emotional mask slip around were Kakashi, Kurenai, the Sandaime, and her friend Yuugao. Kakashi, having been in ANBU at the time, had arrived to the scene on the night Naruto disappeared just moments after Anko had been knocked out, saving not only her, but Naruto as well. Because of that, he had her respect and despite the fact he was always reading his perverted Icha Icha novels, Kakashi was also one of the few that respected her as a kunoichi and a woman instead of just a piece of ass or simply treated her like shit due to her past like most other men did. "Can I have some time alone with him, Kakashi? I want to talk to him..."

"...Alright, but be careful. Naruto's temper isn't something to underestimate nor is his strength. If he gets angry, I highly suggest you run before you get hurt and trust me; you'll know when he gets angry." Kakashi advised the younger woman before disappearing in a whirlwind of leafs. Although a bit unsettled by the warning, Anko was undeterred and made to approach Naruto, only to be a bit late as he had vanished into a tunnel at the base of a cliff. While she found his choice of residence a bit creepy and weird, Anko took another moment to recompose herself before following after Naruto into the tunnel.

"Same fucking thing everywhere I go...Bunch of fucking hypocritical bastards...And the Old Man wonders why I don't like going into the village..." Naruto grumbled quietly to himself as he pushed aside the bear fur covering the entrance to his 'home', seeing as the underground lake and island were more like his 'front yard'. The main chamber was more of a den with three extra chambers attached to it that made up his bedroom to the left with a bathroom, a kitchen and dining room in the back to the right, a currently unused and unfurnished 'guest room' of sorts set up in the back on the left with a bathroom of its own, and his study/library to the right. It had taken quite a bit of work and some troubleshooting when he first 'moved in', but his place had running water and electricty. However, his furniture was all hand-made by himself, most of it being nothing more than animal furs sewn together and stuffed to form large cushions, having never liked regular furniture to begin with. Not only that, but his pending advancements in his Kirinketsu would make things difficult if he were to grow a tail when he progressed to the Ascended Stage or even wings when he advanced to the Elder Stage; if he was even still living in the cave by that point in time, that is.

Going to his bedroom, which had a massive and thick black wolf-fur cushion sitting off to the back left corner of the chamber that was twice as big as a King-size mattress with numerous wolf-fur pillows of varying shades of grey and white piled on it, Naruto walked over to his dresser, which he had taken a great deal of care into crafting out of red oak with intricate tribal dragon designs carved into the wood all over it. The wood was stained for added color and depth in the natural designs in the wood while a clear-coat laquer gave it a proper shine and a bit of protection against any minor cosmetic damages. Taking his bracers and greaves off, he set them down on top of the dresser before taking off the wrappings around his forearms and shins, taking a moment to neatly roll them up and set them aside on the dresser before pulling his bone swords free of his belt and setting them down on the stand on top of his dresser, something he had crafted for them out of cedar and stained to be a darker color with a polished surface just like his dresser. Wanting to take a nap out on his little island before starting dinner later, Naruto stepped back out of his home and was greeted with the sight of another person currently inhabiting his property and staring at his haven with wonder and amazement, idly recalling that the woman was the same one he had seen back in the store he had been in earlier.

She stood at about 5'6" with a build caught between being slim and athletic while also being curvy and alluring at the same time, mildly tanned skin, light brown eyes, and dark purple hair that seemed to be a bit longer than shoulder-length while being kept up in a tight and messy pony-tail that looked not unlike the tail feathers of a peacock in his opinion. She was currently clad in a form-fitting short-sleeve fishnet top that did virtually nothing towards concealing her C-cup breasts, narrow waist, broad hips, and shapely legs while a tan-brown short skirt hung from around her hips over a pair of fishnet shorts with a black belt holding the skirt in place that also crossed over the top of her left hip. Over the fishnets, she wore a light tan knee-length long-sleeve trench coat with her Konoha hitai-ate tied around her head on a strip of blue cloth, her shins covered with white ANBU-style greaves, and dark blue sandals on her feet.

"...You've got five seconds to explain who you are and why you're trespassing on private property." Naruto suddenly spoke up with a slight growl to his voice and a scowl, the woman jumping slightly in startlement, having not noticed his presence.

"I-I'm Mitarashi Anko. I don't know if you remember me, but I..." Anko trailed off a moment later in a rare and unseen moment where her usual self-confidence and bravado waivered. A moment later, however, she regained her determination and continued. "I tried to save you from being attacked by some chuunin ten years ago."

"...So what? You want a metal or something?" Naruto growled out sarcastically with annoyance, something that made Anko's blood boil before she forced herself to calm down. She knew it was just a self-defense mechanism, having one similar to it herself. His, though, just seemed to be able to get under her skin a whole lot quicker than her own. "Look...Anko, was it? It happened ten years ago; get over it. It's not like anything could be done about it now and to be completely honest, if I knew then what I know now, I would have told you to fuck off because my bloodline wouldn't have awoken otherwise."

"Why you..." Anko growled quietly, finally losing her cool and marching up to the giant that tried to turn around and head back inside, only to grab his arm and turn him back around, glaring up at him as she stood no more than only a few inches away from him while restraining herself from simply punching him in the face. "I _was_ going to try and see if you wanted to be friends, _asshole_, but you're nothing more than an ungrateful bastard that doesn't know when someone is trying to be nice to him even if that kindness came up and bit him in the ass!"

"..." Naruto stayed quiet as he stared down at her with a blank expression while Anko started to calm back down, only to realize just exactly what she had said and suddenly wanted to do nothing more than to either shrink into herself or be as far away from the red head as possible. That was when he reacted in a way she most certaintly _had not_ expected; he started laughing. It wasn't exactly a cruel laugh or even a genuinely happy laugh; it was more of a humorless, sarcastic laugh one would let out after discovering some sort of ironic truth. After a few moments, he finally started to quiet down and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye before giving Anko a fanged grin that made her a bit nervous. "That was a good one. That's the first time anyone's had the balls to stand up to me like that and I've got to say...I kinda like it."

"...Huh?" Anko mumbled quietly in confusion and shock, Naruto's reaction having thrown her for a loop and promptly ceased all of her higher brain functions. As Naruto walked around her and started heading towards his island, Anko was slowly regaining the ability to think, gradually coming to realize after a few seconds that Naruto had been testing her will and constitution. In simpler words, he was wondering if she'd just roll over and submit or stand her ground and strike back. What she didn't realize, however, was that Naruto was actually telling the truth when it came to the night his bloodline awoke. Snapping back into focus, Anko spun around and jogged to catch up to Naruto just as he reached the curtain of vines, using his hand to gently part the natural screen so he could enter his actual sanctuary, even going so far as to politely hold the vines to the side so that Anko could follow behind him. Looking around, Anko found herself lost in the natural beauty of the environment once more. "What is this place?"

"I found this cave when I came back to Konoha last year. Since then, I carved a few rooms out of the rock in the back to make an actual home for myself while this here is my personal safe haven; my 'happy place', as it were." Naruto explained while walking over to his hammock and lying down in it, relaxing with his hands clasped together behind his head while he stared up at the tapestry of vines closing off the hole above them. A little surprised by the red head's response, Anko leaned against the pole at the end of the hammock Naruto's feet were at. "Did you know that you're the first person that I've actually allowed to set foot on this little island since I found this place?"

"Why am I so special?" Anko asked while looking away in order to hide the faint blush on her cheeks, but she couldn't figure out why she was so affected by what he said. Without moving from his spot, Naruto casually shrugged as best as he could in his current position.

"I don't know. I guess it's because you're the first person to actually stand up to me like that; the Old Man doesn't count." Naruto responded off-handedly, but Anko could tell he was being truthful. What he didn't tell her, though, was that it was mostly because she wanted to be his friend. "People are usually intimidated by my size or my attitude and, thus, tend to back off a lot instead of continuing to argue or fight, especially after they find out just how strong I am. Because of that, I guess it's just sort of refreshing whenever someone stands up to me. It keeps me level, you know? Really, I only respect strength now and cowards just piss me off."

"...You're not like I thought you would be." Anko spoke up after a few moments of silence, her statement getting a cocked eye brow from Naruto as he glanced over at her. "Granted, it's been ten years since I last saw you and I didn't really know you back then to begin with, but I thought you would be like you used to be; all energetic and full of life, always cracking jokes and pulling pranks. You would always yell at the top of your lungs that you'd be the Hokage one day, too."

"Hmph." Naruto snorted, causing a small whisp of black smoke to escape his nostrils as he turned his gaze back to the ceiling of plant life. As he did, his eyes became a little unfocused and cold, his tone growing a bit emotionless as Anko turned her head to look back at him. "So it fooled you, too, huh? Not surprising. Not even the Old Man could see through my mask back then. The reality of it all was that, back then, I would actually cry myself to sleep at night prior to the night my Kirinketsu activated. My mind was so fucked up around that time that I was actually starting to _look forward_ to the beatings simply because it meant that I still existed, that I was being acknowledged by other living beings. Outside of the beatings, most people would just ignore me with the exception of the occassional curse or thrown rock or glass bottle. Apart from the Old Man, barely anyone cared about me back then..."

"I...I don't know what to say..." Anko admitted quietly, bowing her head with a hint of guilt, only to get lightly kicked in the back of her head. Glaring up at Naruto, Anko was caught off guard a little when Naruto glared right back at her even more intensely while pulling something out from under him. Snorting and causing another puff of smoke to escape his nostrils, Naruto fiddled with the bamboo pan flute in his hand, having forgotten that he had left it in his hammock yesterday. It was a simple one made up of nine pipes of varying lengths, but it was painted snow white with red tribal dragons coiled around the length of each pipe with the ends delicately carved into the shape of the gaping jaws of each dragon. Thanks to a couple hidden seals he had placed on it, Naruto didn't have to worry about the fragile fangs in the dragon mouths breaking or anything; he had even made sure to make it fire-proof, along with most of his other belongings and clothes. Most people said he had an unhealthy obssession with dragons, but Naruto was just proud of who and what he was along with being proud of his heritage and ancestors.

"Then don't say anything at all." Naruto mumbled as Anko pouted childishly and looked away while the red head brought his pan flute to his lips after a moment of thought. Anko's eyes widened slightly when she heard music and glanced back at Naruto to find him playing his instrument, his eyes closed as he played a song of his own creation. Closing her eyes and letting the sounds wash over her, Anko couldn't help smiling slightly as a pleasant warmth filled her. Cracking his eye open after a few minutes, Naruto resisted the urge to smirk lest he mess up as a thought popped into his head. Wanting to play a bit of a prank on the woman, which would undoubtedly result in him getting his ass kicked, Naruto channeled a bit of chakra into his lungs and infused it with the air in them while also channeling a bit into the flute itself, using the only genjutsu technique he knew that he had developed himself and simply called 'Kirin no Uta'. What made it special was that he could manipulate it at any time to cause any kind of reaction in a person that he wanted instead of creating illusions.

In this case, he was going to mess with Anko a bit and give her something to remember him by for the rest of time...

"..." Anko stayed silent as the warmth she felt grew a bit more intense as her heart started racing for no reason at all while the song gradually changed from calm and peaceful to something more lively, the chakra-infused sound waves resonating off the cave walls and growing stronger because of it. Gently biting her bottom lip as a fire began to build up in her core, Anko tried her best to fight off the new, unexpected and unbidden sensations filling her senses as her cheeks flushed a deep red, but it was a fight she was quickly losing as a thin sheet of sweat formed on her skin. Squeezing her eyes shut and turning away from Naruto's direction without making it seem obvious, Anko tried her best to regain control of herself, but it wasn't working, the unbridled feeling of sensual pleasure and carnal hunger only growing stronger as the song's tempo continued to increase in speed.

Barely holding back an impish grin as well as containing the urge to laugh his ass off, Naruto kept playing the song, still watching Anko as he kept his right eye closed. He could tell she was near her limit and that only made it all that much harder to keep from laughing for what he was about to do to her. Steadying the tempo out and switching the notes up, Naruto watched as Anko cringed slightly, barely managing to stay standing and having an even harder time with trying not to moan or whimper. Biting down on her bottom lip even harder than before, Anko gripped the waist band of her skirt with her left hand as tight as possible while her right elbow was braced against the pole beside her in an attempt to look like she was standing in a more relaxed and casual pose. It was getting so damn hard to ignore now, her body betraying her mind as she struggled futily to restrain herself as she was almost on the verge of experiencing what she felt to be the most torturous and powerful orgasm she would have in her entire life...and she wasn't even having sex! Hell, she was still a virgin...

_'Wha-What the hell is going on?! Why am I behaving like this?! This sh-shouldn't be happening!'_ Anko mentally cried out in frustration, desperation, and confusion as the music continued to fill her ears. As the melody began to reach a crescendo, Anko braced herself for what was about to happen...only for the music to suddenly go silent, leaving her wanting for more and without satisfaction. Unable to stand it any longer, Anko sunk to her knees while hanging her head, whining pitifully while Naruto's deep, booming laughs sounded off from behind her. Gritting her teeth with anger fueled by sexual frustration, Anko realized that Naruto had just been using a sound-based genjutsu on her. Seeing only red at that moment, Anko slowly forced herself to stand on shaky legs while walking over to stand beside Naruto's hammock. Without warning, she grabbed the edges of the hammock and flipped it over.

"AH!" Letting out a startled cry as he was unceremoniously dumped out of his hammock, Naruto just barely rolled out of the way of Anko's foot as she stomped down on the spot his crotch had been just a moment ago, but his laughter merely continued as he stood up a bit unsteadily while holding his aching ribs with one hand, his flute held in the other. He didn't have time to react, however, when a purple and brown blur slammed into him, tackling him to the ground and knocking his flute out of his hand. Straddling his waist, Anko raised her fists to start wailing on the red haired asshole that had thought it would be funny to tease her in such a way, but before they could make contact, the tokubetsu jounin found her wrists held in Naruto's much larger and much stronger hands.

"Grr! Let me go, you bastard!" Anko snarled as she struggled to break free, only causing Naruto to gain a shit eating grin.

"Why don't you make me?" He taunted playfully before leaning up and doing something that caught Anko completely off guard. He would later look back on that moment and wonder what it was that had provoked him to do such a thing, but he would never find an answer...

"Fine then, you ass-" Anko's pissed off retort was cut short as their lips met in a brief kiss, causing Anko's eyes to go as wide as they could go while her face suddenly flushed a dark crimson. Still grinning a devil may care grin, Naruto leaned back, only for something else to happen that caught _him_ off guard this time. Her mind still clouded with sexual frustration and the denial of gratification, Anko had proceeded to stop struggling against him and laid down on top of him, pressing her lips against his in a second kiss, this one being filled with passion and lust. Unable to resist at first, Naruto let his eyes close and started to return the lip-lock, but when it came time for them to break apart for air a couple minutes later, Naruto regained his senses and tried to push Anko off of him.

"Ank-" He was cut short when Anko kissed him again before nibbling on his ear with an irritated growl.

"Shut up. You caused this. Now..." She paused momentarily to sit up a little more and stare directly into his eyes with their lips being millimeters apart, her finishing words whispered huskily. "...Fix it..."

Anko had to force herself not to add a desperate 'please' to the end of her statement, but being stubborn and headstrong, she refused to be resort to begging, no matter how painfully aroused she became...

"..." Naruto was silent for a few moments as his mind tried to find a way out of the situation he had gotten himself into, only to find none. Seeing as escape was futile and his usual answer of 'Burn it' wouldn't work, his instinctually driven mind then came up with the only solution to the problem; 'Fix it'. Anko watched as another grin formed on his face, this one being smaller and more unnerving than his usual ones, before he suddenly rolled over on top of her, pinning her to the ground under his much larger size and weight as he captured her lips in another kiss, coaxing out a long and drawn out moan of approval from the older woman, her hands having been pinned to the ground above her head by the red head. "I was _going_ to suggest that we move this to the bedroom. It'll be more...comfortable there."

"..." Anko, unable to find her voice and left breathless from the last kiss, could only nod slowly and numbly as her cheeks burned with another fierce blush, idly wondering what she had just gotten herself into as Naruto stood up with her in his arms, her wrists pinned behind her back and held in Naruto's left hand while he held the back of her neck with his right, her legs tightly wrapped around his waist as they engaged one another in a battle of the tongues, both fighting the other for dominance, something Anko was quickly losing as she struggled to free her hands. Through memory alone, Naruto managed to make his way to his bedroom without much of a problem despite the purple haired distraction in his arms that absolutely refused to be ignored and seemed to demand his full attention at all times. Losing his grip on her wrists for only a split second, Anko took full advantage of it to shrug her coat off, which fell to the floor in a forgotten heap halfway between the brown bear fur 'door flap' to Naruto's room and the bed.

"Mmmm!" Moaning deeply into Naruto's mouth as he laid down on the bed on top of her, Anko's hyper-sensitive skin reacted to the soft and intoxicating feel of the wolf fur, nearly sending her over the edge as she gripped Naruto's shoulders. Tugging on Naruto's bottom lip with her teeth as they pulled apart for another breath of air, Anko pushed him up a little before reaching down and grabbing the hem of her shirt, pulling it up over her head before tossing it aside. As they engaged in yet another heated kiss a moment later, Anko managed to gain just enough leverage to roll Naruto over onto his back with her on top of him, only for her eyes to roll back in her head as another moan escaped her. Still fondling Anko's right breast with his left hand, Naruto channeled a touch of Fire chakra into his hand while sitting up and taking the nipple of Anko's left breast into his mouth, the heat of his Fire chakra sending unexpected waves of pleasure through the kunoichi's body that were only intensified from him suckling her other breast. "N-Nar...Ngh! Oh, God...D-Don't sto...stop..."

Pupils dilating thinly, Naruto started to lose himself amongst Anko's pleasured grunts and groans, his instincts screaming at him to mount the woman. However, he still retained rational thought through some miraculous event and knew better than to do anything she didn't want to do. Such restraint, however, was quickly thrown out the window when he felt Anko's hands fumbling with the rope tied around his waist in the place of a belt as their lips met in yet another passionate make-out session, making him smirk against her lips while a similar one formed on Anko's, both letting themselves get lost in the moment, the aftermath and consequences be damned...

xXx

"I'd kill you right now, but..." Anko trailed off for a moment, blushing fiercely as she glared at Naruto from across the room, lying on her back on the bed with a very comfortable and soft wolf fur blanket covering her naked form. Her blush intensifying, Anko looked away as she continued with what she was saying. "But I can't feel my legs...Asshole..."

"Hey, you're the one that told me to keep going." Naruto remarked while throwing his hands up in mock surrender, his fang-filled grin rendering the action meaningless. Having just got out of the shower, Naruto finished drying off and dressed himself in a fresh pair of pants identical to the ones he had been wearing yesterday. Keeping his back towards Anko, Naruto started sliding his rope-belt through the belt loops on his pants as his good mood shifted slightly. "Just so you know, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push things so far...I always did have a problem with knowing when to quit..."

"So I've noticed..." Anko growled out with an even darker blush as she referred to Naruto's ungodly stamina, still refusing to look at the younger red haired man. Sighing quietly, Naruto started binding his hands and forearms with his white cloth wrappings as he got ready to meet up with his team, sitting at the end of his bed. As he continued to quietly get ready, Anko stared at the back of her first lover as strange feelings and foreign emotions tugged at her chest, leaving her rather scared and confused. Despite being so abrupt and unexpected, Anko had thoroughly enjoyed the entire event and had been quite surprised, but thankful, when Naruto had been gentle and patient with her. She had no regrets, knowing that she couldn't have found anyone else more caring than the Slayer in front her even if she spent the rest of her life searching, but a part of her couldn't help fearing that it had all been meaningless to the red head...

"Go ahead and jump in the shower while I get started on breakfast." Naruto spoke up after several minutes of silence, cutting into Anko's thoughts as he slipped his necklace on over his head. Pausing at the doorway without looking back at Anko, who was now sitting up while clutching the covers to her chest, Naruto said something else that made Anko's heart flutter and skip a beat. "You're welcome here any time, Anko. This place is now just as much your home as it is mine..."

"..." With that, he was gone and Anko was left speechless in his wake, a look of honest shock and surprise on her face as she stared at the now-motionless bear fur that hung down in front of the opening. A small smile of genuine happiness formed as her eyes watered slightly with tears of joy, letting her mask fall completely in the sanctuary she had lost her virginity in. Although in a round-about and rather unorthodox, but pleasant way, Anko had found acceptance with another person. Maybe not love, but she had another precious person and, apparently, so did Naruto. Forcing her emotional mask back into place while she hurriedly dried her eyes before Naruto saw them, just in case he came back into the room for something, Anko decided to see if she could make it to the bathroom for a nice hot shower. Moving to the edge of the bed, Anko experimentally put her bare feet on the smooth and level natural stone that made up the floor, shivering slightly from the cool feel of it on her warm soles.

Biting her bottom lip as she smiled at the memories of how she lost feeling in her legs, the tokubetsu jounin threw the blanket aside and slowly pushed herself up until she was standing, noticing how she was still a bit sore, numb, and weak, but still capable of standing and possibly walking, which was proven correct after making her way to the bathroom. As she turned on the water to the shower and let it heat up before stepping under the warm streams of liquid, Anko's mind traitorously flittered back over to the red head, making her frown slightly as she thought about how he might feel towards her and what happened between them yesterday, last night, and earlier that morning. Now that she actually thought about it, her lack of proper feeling in her legs really _was_ her own fault. Out of all nineteen rounds, she had been the one to instigate every last one; she was actually a bit surprised by her own stamina, considering that she had never had sex before, but she blamed it on her ninja training. Shaking her head and ducking under the water, Anko focused back on her previous line of thought.

_'I hope this isn't some twisted dream or a trick. I don't know what I'd do if it was...'_ Anko thought to herself, suddenly feeling vulnerable, a feeling she loathed and despised with every fibre of her being. As similar thoughts drifted through her head, either adding on to or reducing her fears, Anko remained oblivious to the thoughts running through Naruto's mind. Operating on auto-pilot as he scrambled enough eggs to feed himself and his guest along with frying some shredded hashbrowns and diced venison sausage, Naruto couldn't stop himself from thinking about the woman currently using his shower. He couldn't stop cursing himself for what he did, having undoubtedly ruined his chances of ever becoming friends with possibly the only person that actually _wanted_ to be his friend without already knowing him from some point in the past. A few minutes went by before he heard the shower stop, making him sigh once more and slouch a little.

_'Here's to hoping that she doesn't hate my guts...'_ Naruto thought to himself sourly with a faint grimace, straightening out his expression just seconds before Anko stepped out of his bedroom a few minutes later in the clothes she had worn yesterday, which he had a Shadow Clone wash in the lake last night before drying them with a good bit of heat generated from his Fire chakra. Setting a plate of food in front of Anko as she sat down at the table, Naruto stayed silent while sitting down and eating his own meal. Breakfast was a silent affair, something that they were both thankful for and cursing at the same time as it only made things feel all the more awkward. After they finished eating, silence continued to reign supreme in Naruto's home as he washed the dishes while Anko simply stayed sitting at the table. When he was done, Naruto leaned against the counter, staring down at the empty sink. _'Time to face the music...'_

"I've got to go meet my team now, but you can stick around and make yourself comfortable if you want. Like I said earlier, this place is now just as much your home as it is mine." Naruto stated calmly as he started making his way to the door with Anko following him out. Pausing just outside, Anko forced herself to grab his arm to stop him from leaving right away. Turning around and looking at her, he found her staring down at the ground as she kept her hand on his arm, her grip tightening slightly. Not even given a chance to worry about what she was going to do or what she was thinking, Naruto felt Anko's other hand gently grab his necklace and pulled on it to make him lean down before she suddenly kissed him on the cheek, leaving him surprised as his cheeks flushed slightly.

"Th-Thanks...for everything." Anko muttered nervously and shyly, a faint smile on her lips as she refused to look up at him. Letting go and walking away from him, Anko put her mask back into place before turning around and giving him a devious smirk that spoke of causing him pain. "Don't think this changes anything, asshole, so don't get any ideas. I'm still pissed at you for what you did to me."

With that, Anko turned back around and ran out of the cavern, leaving a stunned Naruto behind. Lightly touching his cheek where she had kissed him, Naruto blushed a little more before snorting out a puff of smoke and recomposing himself. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Naruto left his home and started heading to Training Ground 13 to meet with his team, but for the rest of the day, no one could figure out why he was grinning...

xXx

"Hey, Kurenai? Can I talk to you about something? Something that stays just between us?" Anko inquired a bit nervously as she and her best friend, Yuuhi Kurenai, sat in a booth at the back of a shinobi-only bar they usually frequented while enjoying some sake. Caught by surprise by Anko's sudden change in mood, Kurenai became worried for her friend, who usually called her 'Nai-chan whenever they were hanging out.

"Yeah, of course, Anko. What's wrong?"

"Well, that's just it...I don't know." Anko responded softly before eventually explaining what had happened between her and Naruto the day before and that morning. While she was angry with the red head for seemingly 'taking advantage' of her dear friend, Kurenai managed to calm down a little after she was told about what Naruto had told her and how apologetic he had been for his actions. He wasn't off the hook in Kurenai's opinion, but she would at least give him a chance to explain himself when she got a hold of him. After voicing such thoughts, however, Kurenai was once again surprised by Anko's response, which was actually a bit defensive of the Slayer. "Leave him alone, Kurenai. I know he was being honest and...it wasn't like I gave him much of a choice yesterday..."

"Why are you defending him, Anko? He took advantage of you!" Kurenai retorted, unable to figure out why Anko was standing up for the guy. Feeling insulted, Anko glared at her friend.

"He may have gotten the ball rolling at first, but _I_ was the one that took advantage of _him_, Kurenai." Anko snapped sharply, actually making Kurenai flinch slightly. Ignoring it, Anko turned her eyes back down to the small dish in front of her, staring at her reflection in the alchohol before quickly downing it. "He even offered to let me stay at his place whenever I want and I could tell that he didn't have any alterior motives when he said it, either...He's a good guy, Kurenai. We might have gotten off to a weird and rocky start, but he's really nice once you get past his sarcasm and short temper. He's honest, too...That's something you can't find nowadays; an honest man that doesn't have a problem with speaking his mind. It's even rarer when you factor in that his life was far harder than anyone else's could ever be...I'm surprised he hasn't snapped yet..."

"What do you mean?" Kurenai inquired, only for Anko to shake her head negatively and ignore the question. Bidding her friend good night, Anko left the bar and started heading back to her apartment, her mind still stuck on the red haired young man...

Elsewhere, that same red haired shinobi was lying in his hammock, reading one of his mother's journals. Like most of her other hand-written journals, which were more like guide books that she had started writting just after finding out that she was pregnant with him, it was categorized into a particular subject. One thing his mother had always kept hidden from other people was the fact she herself had been a Slayer, but her Kirinketsu had only partially awoke, leaving her unable to progress in their bloodline and without the usual signs of their bloodline activating; the tattoos, eyes, claws, fangs, ears, etc. However, she was still very knowledgable about them since a large number of known Slayers in the past came from their direct ancestry. This particular journal just happened to be about Slayers and their unusual and always unexpected/unorthodox courting methods and rituals. Since they were the closest thing he had to a mother's helpful advice, Naruto read them religiously, turning to them for assistance whenever he had a problem he couldn't solve the 'simple way' by burning it to ash, which turned out to be a common personality quirk for Slayers; they were almost always tempermental and when added with the ability to breathe fire, it only made things worse for those that were the targets of a Slayer's anger. Pushing those thoughts aside for the moment, Naruto focused back on the book in his hands and reread the page he was on.

_"For us Slayers, 'Love at first sight' doesn't exist. There's no 'destined soul mate' or 'true love' for us. When a Slayer finds the person they would love for the rest of their life, it is usually under the most unexpected circumstances. An example of which is when I met my husband. When we were younger, I was naturally hot-headed and literally had no mental filter between my brain and my mouth; still don't, really. Because of that, I was a hard person to get along with and my husband, your father, was one of those people that didn't get along with me very well. That all changed one day when our tendency to 'clash', as it were, reached an all-new high, resulting in a rather vicious fight between us. We both suffered at least one broken bone, a large number of cuts and scratches, an even greater number of bruises, and a few nasty burns, in your father's case. Despite all of that...we shared our first kiss almost immediately after we stopped fighting. While we would still have our occassional disagreement or arguement that would often end in a brawl between us, we were still head-over-heels in love with one another and we were inseparable. NOTHING could split us apart._

_Not even when I would banish him to the couch, embarrassingly enough. I would always end up caving during the night and sneak my way into the living room before lying down beside him..._

_I can only hope and pray that you find your mate like I have. I know I've mentioned it before, but if you're reading any of these journals, I'm no longer alive and Minato probably isn't either. If so, then I can only apologize because I know your life will be hard and cruel, but don't let it get to you. You'll find that special someone and trust me when I say this, but you'll know who it is when that pain and discomfort of living such a brutal life is suddenly lessened just by their mere presence. Now, don't get me wrong; your mate won't neccessarily be someone that you absolutely can't get along with like it was with me and Minato, but they will most definitely be just about as stubborn as you are and undeniably aggressive in certain..._areas_."_

"Really, Kaa-chan?" Naruto mumbled with a sigh, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back and tried to get the unwanted mental image out of his head. At least she had been honest; she really didn't have a mental filter, something he actually didn't have either. Now, was it a family thing or a Slayer thing? Deciding to think about it another time, Naruto closed the leather-bound journal and tied the string around it to keep it closed, having read enough for the night. Leaving it lying on his chest, Naruto put his hands behind his head and stared up at the night sky through the weaving vines as the crescent moon shined down through it.

_'I wonder...if Anko is that 'special someone'...'_ Naruto thought to himself as he stared up at the moon, absently recalling every little detail about her from her scent and her smile down to the scars that dotted her supple flesh and how his forever-constant anger would dwindle to nothing whenever he looked into her eyes. Sighing heavily, Naruto closed his eyes and relaxed, deciding to sleep in his hammock for tonight. It wasn't long before he fell asleep, thoughts of his currently absent lover drifting through his mind as he lost consciousness, only for her to invade his dreams...

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Kirin no Uta- Dragon's Song

A/N: Just so nobody starts freaking out about how Naruto and Anko are moving too fast or anything, this is my arguement. They've both lived a harsh life that has caused them to form an emotional mask to keep themselves from breaking under pressure. Because of that mask, their true personality and emotions are wired differently than a normal person's. That also goes for how they would react to things in certain states of mind. Take Anko, for example. Had she not been so strongly affected by Naruto's genjutsu, the kiss would have only pissed her off further and she would have tried even harder to beat the hell out of him, if not attempt to kill him. They are both emotionally driven people with Naruto being instinctually driven as well, so they would react to things spontaneously without much forethought and it's worse for Naruto due to his instinctual mind-set; an example of this is when Anko kissed him back. Even though he had wanted to diffuse the situation and try to get Anko to calm down, his instincts had already grown too intense to simply ignore, thus resulting in him giving in and switching over from trying to stop Anko to giving her what she wanted at that moment.

If that doesn't appease you, then understand this; while their relationship was 'jump-started', so to speak, it will not be perfect nor would it be easy. I'm not going into detail about it, but Naruto's and Anko's personality quirks/characteristics/masks will be playing a key role in the plot-line of their relationship, which inturn, will affect the story itself at various points in varying degrees. Also, at this point, their emotions and personalities are currently unstable due to sudden changes in their lives; Anko, because of her past concerning Naruto and losing her virginity to him. Naruto, because he's now being forced into having to go into the village on a regular basis and also because of the interaction between him and Anko that has caused unknown changes in his emotions, ones that they have both never felt before. Thus, they aren't going to act like they normally would at this current point, but their personalities and emotions WILL settle down eventually and, once more, stabilize themselves. That's all I'm going to say on the matter, so don't bother asking questions about it...

Now, I'm going to be honest about this particular point that had been brought up by a reviewer; is there going to be a harem? I don't know. I was thinking about it a little and if I do make it a harem, there will only be a MAXIMUM OF THREE GIRLS! No more, so don't bother trying to convince me otherwise and NO, I'm not taking suggestions as to who the other girls should be; I've already got some ideas. I am, however, going to let you, my readers, 'assist' in my decision. To do so, I want you to leave an actual review of what you think of my story so far- Not an 'This story is badass! Update soon!' or 'This is total bullshit! Go die in a hole!' kind of review- and it has to be constructive criticism, meaning you should note at least one or more faults in my writing, even if its just a misspelled word, and then give suggestions as to how it could be fixed in a POLITE and CIVIL manner; meaning no flamers. You'll just be ignored. Anyways, at the end of your review, please state your vote, which is one of two things; Harem or No Harem. Short, Sweet, and Simple. Please, no explanations as to why you want it that way or whatever because I'll pretty much just ignore it. No offense.

Okay, now with that over and done with, I want to let people know a couple things about Naruto's Kirinketsu bloodline. While some of you undoubtedly think he's super powered or whatever, trust me when I say that he is not. The Kirinketsu bloodline has only been PARTIALLY explained and most of it was just its STRENGTHS, not its WEAKNESSES. Yes, there will be weaknesses and yes, they will be ones that can and will be exploited if known about by certain characters. While I haven't used it yet, one of his most obvious ones is his emotions. Naruto is a very, VERY passionate person...and this is where people tend to confuse 'Passion' with 'Compassion', so here's a small lesson.

Passion- strong feelings of various emotions that differ from Love to Anger to Joy. Compassion- in a nut shell; sympathy, pity, mercy, etc. To make things clear, Naruto is most definitely NOT a merciful person. While an emotionally driven perosn, Naruto respects only strength and personally views pity and mercy as forms of cowardice and weakness. Ergo, he despises pity and mercy, meaning if he decides to kill someone, he WILL kill them and if he doesn't, it's either because he couldn't deal the final blow before they somehow escaped or because something serious happened that stopped him from doing just that such as being mortally wounded and/or having to protect someone. Also, while he only respects strength, that doesn't mean just on a physical level. That also includes mental and emotional strength among others. He could even respect normal civilians without any kind of training simply because of their personality or because of some kind of action he was a witness to.

Okay, I've ranted WAY too much, so I'm going to cut myself short here before I end up giving away too many details to the story. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the story and please review, even if you don't vote on anything or whatever. I like reviews; they give me incentive to keep writing...

-Winterfang


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Dragon's Blood

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Chapter Three

It had been a week since his encounter with Anko and Naruto hadn't seen any trace of her. Because of it, Naruto had grown a bit more reclusive as well as a 'bit' more tempermental with others. He didn't exactly know how to react to what had happened between him and Anko or how it made him feel, even with the guidance of his mother's journals, and it was driving him nuts. Not only that, but she hadn't stopped by to at least tell him not to bother her again or anything. Then, somehow, the Sandaime found out about it yesterday and Naruto had to sit through a rather long and irritating lecture that morning, but what made it worse was the fact Kakashi had walked in on the lecture, heard what was going on, and had proceeded to tease Naruto on occassion since then. The red head knew the jounin meant well and was merely playing around, but if he kept it up-

"So, it was your first time, huh? And with one of Konoha's most beautiful kunoichi, at that? That just earned you five more points on your 'Man Card'." Naruto closed his eyes as he tried, and failed, to restrain himself...

"Senkou Taihou!" Naruto bellowed furiously as he spun around, a thin halo of fire forming around his fist as he cocked it back, Kakashi's lone eye widening with fear and shock. He had seen the damage the attack could cause and the jounin did _not_ want to get hit by one at point blank range. Throwing a straight punch with his right hand, the fire ring around his fist suddenly grew larger and stronger before continuing on when his fist stopped, forming a meter-wide perfectly smooth sphere of red fire that shot forward at the speed of a cannon ball. Just barely managing to switch out with a log via Kawarimi, Kakashi watched as the 'Senkou Taihou' burned the log to ash in an instant while continuing on to impact a line of trees roughly a hundred meters further into the training ground, detonating in a powerful explosion that kicked up a stiff gust of scorching hot wind from the concussive force of the blast wave alone, the flames erupting in a brilliant display of reds and oranges as they incinerated everything within a fifty foot radius of the impact point. It was only one of several A-rank ninjutsu techniques that Naruto had created and mastered at some point in the past...

Breathing heavily out of anger alone, Naruto let his hand drop back down to his side, oblivious to the fact his eyes had turned a soul-piercing golden amber during his moment of fury. Snorting out a large cloud of black smoke, Naruto spun around on his heel and stormed off as his eyes slowly bled back into their usual crimson. Still cowering behind the Memorial Stone, Kakashi could only stare at the flaming crater left behind by Naruto's attack with a single wide eye, shivering in fear as he thought about the crater being him if he had been hit by the technique. What was even scarier was the fact that, despite it being an A-rank technique, Naruto was capable of throwing it around all day long like it was candy at a festival parade before he even _started_ to get tired while anyone else would have been exhausted after using it once...

His mind blank with irritation, Naruto didn't realize where he was going until he found himself walking down a familiar path that led back to his home. Sighing heavily with a slight growl, Naruto decided it was for the best that he just stayed home for the rest of the day. Going to his haven and gently brushing the vines aside after putting his bone swords, armor, and wrappings away in his room, Naruto walked over to his hammock and picked up his flute, idly noticing that he kept forgetting it in his hammock. Sitting down without lying in it, Naruto stared at the small musical instrument for a moment.

"It's not like I have anything better to do..." Naruto muttered as he moved to bring the flute to his lips, only for his eyes to suddenly flick over to his anvil and the piles of metal around it. Smiling faintly as he recalled some of his past creations, Naruto stood up while a Kage Bunshin popped into existence beside him. Passing his flute over to his clone, who proceeded to lay down in the hammock, Naruto walked over to the anvil and picked up his hammer, grinning slightly. It had been a few months since he last made anything. Reaching down and picking up and good sized piece of high-grade metal, Naruto inspected it for a moment before thinking of what to do with it. His fanged grin became a bit softer and more peaceful as he made his decision.

As his clone started playing a random song to help pass the time and fill the silence of the cave, Naruto took a deep breath before exhaling an insanely hot and steady stream of fire onto the metal that soon made the steel glow orange from the heat in only a handful of seconds. Despite having his hand in the fire directly and holding onto the glowing metal itself, Naruto wasn't bothered by it, having a natural invulnerability to fire and heat of all levels due to his bloodline. Resting the super-heated metal down on top of the anvil, Naruto grabbed his hammer and raised it before swiftly bringing it back down on the metal, gradually shaping it into a rough image of what he had in mind...

xXx

Three weeks later, Naruto had finished his project, resorting to sending a Kage Bunshin in his place for team missions and training. Kakashi had stopped by after the first day to complain about it, but after hearing Naruto's arguement, the jounin couldn't contest the Uzumaki's point and let it be; Team 7 wasn't a 'team'. One was an arrogant, spoiled, and mentally unstable brat that thought he was the Emperor with a 'Lone Avenger' complex, one was a cowardly little girl with a speech impediment and self-esteem issues and had no knowledge whatsoever of the darkness of the world, he himself was a pyromanic brute with anger problems that couldn't get along with others, and Kakashi was a perverted slacker with no sense of time that was stuck in the past. Because of their inability to connect properly in order to work together, Naruto saw no reason to even bother showing up in person until the need arose to do such. Personally, though, he would have already started on trying to help Hinata regain her self-confidence and, with his particular methods of 'teaching', pretty much force the Hyuuga heiress to grow a spine or simply break her in the process, but he was still too emotionally volatile at the moment and would just as easily shatter the young girl's mind as he would try to build her back up.

That, however, wasn't on his mind at the moment...

"..." Naruto didn't move as he stared at the black wooden stand that held two of the finest works he had ever crafted, lying on his back on a cluster of wolf fur cushions in the den with the stand sitting just a couple feet away from his head, which hung over the edge of one of the cushions. The stand, which he had made as well, held a wakizashi with a deep crimson blade that bore snow white stylized flower petals drifting across the blade on either side of it, no guard, and a deep crimson wooden handle that seamlessly connected with the deep crimson wooden sheathe that came with it, a pattern of more snow white stylized flower petals dancing along the length of the sheathe as if they were blowing in the wind, just as they were depicted on the blades. Directly below the wakizashi on the stand was a similarly crafted tanto. He had decided to name the wakizashi 'Guren' and the tanto 'Tanka'.

The weapons themselves, though, weren't on his mind, either...

It was the person he had made them for, who still hadn't stopped by...

_'She probably doesn't want anything to do with me. Not that I blame her...'_ Naruto thought to himself before sighing heavily and getting up, setting the stand and both blades on a shelf in his room before stepping outside, his head bowed slightly and gaze lowered...

"Naruto?" The voice made Naruto freeze and as he slowly raised his head and looked up at the person, he had to force himself not to act any differently than he normally would. "Are you busy? I...I want to talk about what happened..."

"Not really, no. I was fixing to go get something for dinner, but that was about it." Naruto responded as he took a moment to examine Anko, noticing that she seemed a bit nervous. However, he didn't see any of the insecurity or uncertainty that had been in her body language a month ago when he had last seen her. At the mention of food, however, Anko's stomach suddenly growled and she couldn't stop the fierce blush of embarrassment from forming on her cheeks, looking away shyly. Smirking with a slight chuckle, Naruto shook his head as he started walking towards the tunnel that led out of the cave, gently putting his hand on her shoulder as he paced. "Come on. I'll be nice and let you pick. Hell, I'll even pay. Consider it...compensation."

He never saw the evil look in Anko's eyes or the bit of drool at the corner of her mouth as she followed behind him, thinking about how much dango she'd be able to get...

xXx

"Alright, speak. What's on your mind?" Naruto spoke up after internally complaining about how empty his wallet was now. Granted, a good bit of the cost at the dango stand Anko took him to was from himself due to his much larger appetite, but they had also stopped by a bar Anko frequented before ordering a case of sake along with a few extra bottles. While Anko had only wanted a few bottles, Naruto had gotten the case for himself, telling her that it took far more than a few drinks to get him drunk and he didn't want to feel left out if they were going to get shit-faced. Now, carrying the four-foot cubic wooden crate on his left shoulder while Anko carried a bag with her self-purchased bottles of sake, they were heading back to his home. In reaction to his question, Anko suddenly blushed slightly, but refrained from speaking up until they were almost to the tunnel entrance.

"Well, I...I guess I should start off by apologizing about my behaviour that day. I guess I was a bit forceful at times and I didn't exactly give you the chance to calm me down, so...I'm sorry." Anko finally explained as they passed through the tunnel and came upon the path of river rocks that led from the shore down to Naruto's island. Snorting out a puff of smoke, Naruto smirked again and shook his head, his reaction confusing Anko and irritating her a little. "And just what's so funny? I'm trying to apologize-"

"-for nothing. Remember what I said when we first met?" Naruto finished and then questioned, confusing Anko a little more. Rolling his eyes, Naruto set the crate down before turning back towards the woman, who was opening up one of her bottles of sake while Naruto took one out of the crate for himself. "I _like_ it when people stand up to me, so there's nothing for you to apologize for. Besides, I should have been more forceful myself and _made_ you calm down. Either that or I shouldn't have kept up the teasing like I did..."

"..." Anko blushed heavily while plopping down into Naruto's hammock, mumbling something incoherent under her breath after taking a swig of her drink.

"What was that? You're going to have to speak louder than that." Naruto remarked before downing almost half of his bottle of sake in only a few gulps while simultaneously sitting down in front of the crate and leaning back against it. Blushing even more heavily, Anko became a bit irritated from having to repeat herself along with being thoroughly embarrassed by having to say the words again.

"I said 'I didn't mind; You were my first and I loved it'! OKAY?!" Anko yelled before her entire face turned a dark red, Naruto's eyes going wide in surprise by what she had just said. Even more embarrassed by what she said, Anko quickly looked away before chugging the bottle of sake in her hand, leaving herself breathless in the end and starting to feel the beginnings of a slight buzz. Drinking the second half of his bottle, Naruto calmly set it down before reaching into the crate and pulling out another bottle as Anko followed his example. Calming down a bit, Anko opened her fresh bottle and took a drink from it.

"I don't know what it was that made me do it, but when you kissed me, I felt...I don't know how to describe it. It was like...a jolt of electricity that shot through me and suddenly, everything was so much clearer. Yes, you drove me to the brink of insanity with that damn genjutsu, but when you kissed me that first time..." Anko continued to explain her feelings while Naruto simply stayed silent and listened, already opening his third bottle. She suddenly scoffed and rolled her eyes at a thought. "This is going to sound really cliche and cheesy, but I can't think of any other way to explain it. When you kissed me that first time, I felt like my life went from being stuck in a chaotic shit-storm to being in a peaceful paradise..."

"That doesn't sound very cliche to me. I mean, look at where we are right now..." Naruto remarked, gesturing to his little hide-away, his home. Down the first half of his beverage, Naruto tilted his head back and stared up at the screen of vines covering the hole in the ceiling, noticing how the sky was getting darker as dusk progressed into night. "I never imagined that I'd ever find a place like this. _But I did_. And to be honest...I never thought I'd find someone that actually liked me for me..._but I did_...or at least, I _thought_ I did..."

"Naruto..." Anko whispered with a look of shock and a bit of hope, wondering if he was talking about her or not. Snorting out a decent sized cloud of soot particals, Naruto finished the rest of his bottle.

"Yeah, the Old Man was right..." Naruto mumbled with a humorless smirk and a slight shake of his head as he grabbed himself another bottle of sake. "Deep and emotional thinking just doesn't suit me very well."

"Well..._I_ think it does..." Anko mumbled out around the opening in the bottle, her words going unheard as she, once again, averted her gaze to somewhere other than Naruto. That was when Naruto thought of something, wanting to redirect the conversation from melodramatic emotions to something more lively and entertaining. Like a drinking game.

"Hey, Anko. Do you know how to play Three Man?" Naruto inquired while seemingly pulling out a couple dice from thin air. Cocking an eye brow, Anko slowly shook her head negatively, uncertain as to what Naruto was planning. Said red head only started grinning impishly. "Don't worry; I'll teach you."

xXx

"Hmm..." Anko sighed with an odd mix of contentment and boredom, currently lying in bed with Naruto, who was still passed out. While she had only had a couple bottles last night and didn't get too drunk nor did she suffer from a hang-over, Naruto had helped himself to well over three dozen, leaving him unconscious for a good while. Unlike the last time she woke up in the red head's bed, she was still dressed in her dark purple panties and her fishnet top while Naruto himself was still dressed in his pants. Looking around Naruto's bedroom and actually paying attention this time, Anko saw things she hadn't seen last time. One wall was completely hidden behind a couple bookshelves of similar design as his dresser, each one completely filled with scrolls and books, while on the wall beside the bed, there were a handful of shelves that held a number of objects. That was when her eyes caught sight of something red on one of the shelves and got curious. Gently slipping out from under Naruto's arm and getting out of bed, she walked over to it and found it to be a beautifully decorated wakizashi and tanto, only to notice something carved into the stand that supported both items and proceeded to read it out loud to herself, but quietly so as not to disturb Naruto.

"'Like the petals of wilting flowers, droplets of blood shall fall from thy blades'. Wow...Impressive." Anko muttered before reading the names to both weapons, the kanji having been carved into the stand just beneath where the handles were resting; Guren and Tanka. Gently lifting the wakizashi, Guren, from its cradle, Anko tenderly held it in her hands and slowly unsheathed the blade a little bit, only to gasp quietly when she saw just how well-made it was along with the design on the blade, which she realized was actually stained red somehow instead of being painted like most others would be; even the petals had been stained into the metal. From the bed, Naruto couldn't help smiling slightly, glad to know that she liked them; now he just had to figure out how to give them to her. He had woken up almost as soon as she slipped out from under his arm and, after seeing what time it was, had sent out a Kage Bunshin to deal with his team for the day while Anko was distracted.

"Do you like them?" He asked suddenly, making Anko squeak and jump slightly out of startlement. Blushing furiously, Anko sheathed the blade again and set it back on the stand before turning back around to Naruto, nodding slightly.

"Yes, they're beautiful." She answered before suddenly shivering a little bit, finally noticing that it was a bit chilly in the room. Crawling back into bed and under the covers, Anko quickly snuggled up against Naruto, who was always unnaturally warm and made her think of him as a human space heater. Looking up at him as she started to warm back up, Anko rested her chin on his chest. "Where did you find them? They must have cost a fortune."

"I didn't find them and I didn't buy them. I _made_ them." Naruto's answer shocked Anko to her core, prompting him to give her a fanged smirk at the look on her face. "What? You think I have that anvil and metal out there for _decoration_? I've been forging weapons for almost six years, Anko. I originally took it up in order to better train my Fire affinity, but it eventually just became a hobby and an extra source of income on the side."

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Anko mumbled with a huff before resting her head on Naruto's chest, pressing her body flush against Naruto's with her hand resting on his chest, a small sigh of contentment escaping her as she smiled softly, her brown eyes closing tiredly. "Mmm...You're really comfy, you know that?"

"I'm what?" Naruto muttered quietly with surprise, actually blushing a little. Being called 'comfy' wasn't something he was used to hearing. In fact, it was the first time anyone had called him that or anything close to it. However, instead of answering him, Anko yawned tiredly as the warmth coming off of him was starting to lull her back to sleep. Turning over on her side with her back to him and curling up slightly with her head resting on his shoulder, Anko started dozing off. Smiling slightly, Naruto hesitantly rolled onto his side as well and wrapped an arm around the small female, holding her flush against him. It was still kind of early in the morning and they hadn't gone to bed until late last night, so he guessed that a few more hours of rest wouldn't hurt. Holding her a bit tighter to him and making sure she was comfortable, Naruto lightly kissed the side of Anko's neck just below her jaw, making her smile sleepily and quietly mewl with approval. "Sweet dreams, Anko..."

"Mmm...My Naru-kun..." Anko mumbled softly before going silent once more, drifting off into a peaceful slumber while Naruto blushed at the simple, but affectionate pet name. His blush slowly got worse, however, when he realized Anko had called him '_her_ Naru-kun'. Deciding to just ignore it, Naruto figured she had only said it because she was half-way between consciousness and sleep, thus, she just slurred whatever it was she was actually trying to say...That had to be it. Sighing heavily, Naruto shoved those thoughts aside and buried his nose in her hair, closing his eyes as he relaxed and soon started to fall asleep as well.

At around noon, Naruto slowly woke up just as Anko was getting out of bed, her movement being the cause that had disturbed his slumber. Silently watching as she headed towards the bathroom while taking her shirt off, Naruto couldn't stop himself from staring at her nearly bare rear, but then again, he _wouldn't_ stop himself even if he wanted to; her ass was simply too perfect to ignore and he was simply too shameless to _not_ blatantly stare. He was caught, however, when Anko paused in the doorway to the bathroom for a moment to toss her shirt behind her, only to find him staring at her. Although she blushed and looked a bit embarrassed about it for a moment, Anko quickly gained a seductive smile as she took pride in the fact she had his interest while locking eyes with Naruto. Not saying a word, Anko kept her back to him as she pulled her hair tie out and let her hair fall freely to reach down just past her shoulder blades before slowly taking her panties off, bending over at the waist in an over-exaggerated way to ensure his attention was focused entirely on her butt, only to disappear behind the bear skin that hung down in front of the bathroom door, just as they did for almost every other doorway in his home.

"Damn tease..." Naruto grumbled quietly with a mock pout before hearing the shower running. Getting an idea and smirking mischievously, Naruto got out of bed and started getting undressed as well. Sure, he was taking a big risk of getting his ass kicked, but he didn't much care about that; it's not like he wouldn't heal. Besides, he wouldn't have to take a shower later and it would give them more time to do something else. So, silently slipping into the bathroom, Naruto snuck into the shower behind Anko before suddenly wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her up off the ground.

"AAHHH! NARUTO! YOU JACKASS!" Anko screamed, only to start laughing, which kind of surprised the Slayer a bit. He had expected her to freak out and either kick him out of the shower or try to beat the shit out of him, if not attempt both at the same time, but not for her to _laugh_. As he set her back down on her feet, he voiced his confusion, only for Anko to look up at him with her own look of confusion. "You...don't remember our conversation last night? The one we had before we fell asleep?"

"Um...I remember everything up until the moment I started playing my flute last night. Everything after that is...a blur." Naruto admitted casually while scratching under his chin. Anko sighed heavily before grabbing the bar of soap and, after letting Naruto under the water for a moment, started rubbing it on the red head's body with a slight blush, talking as she did.

"We were talking about what was going to happen to...You know, _us_. Did you know that you like to express yourself and your emotions a whole lot more when you're drunk?" Anko inquired while looking back up into Naruto's eyes, smiling a bit teasingly. Grumbling under his breath with a fierce blush of embarrassment, Naruto looked away. He _did not_ know that little fact about himself. Now that he _did_, he would have to be careful about who he drank around in the future as well as how much he drank around them; which sucked, because he really liked getting hammered, but that was mostly because he had the miraculous gift of never having to suffer through a hang-over. Focusing back on her self-appointed task of washing her lover's body, Anko continued with what she was saying. "You said that you had been a wreck the entire time I was gone. That you would wake up, expecting to find me in your arms, only to be disappointed and heart broken at the same time when you found that I wasn't. You even admitted that I was your first lover as well...I still don't see how that's possible with how good you are."

"..." Naruto said nothing as his blush only worsened while still glaring at the wall, something that made Anko snicker, glad to know she was still able to tease him about something. While a bit difficult, she now knew that it wasn't impossible to embarrass the giant and she was going to enjoy herself while doing so on occassion. While she finished with him, Naruto ducked back under the water to rinse off before taking the soap from Anko's hand and giving her a brief kiss before she could attempt any sort of protest or objection. A moment later and it was now Anko's turn to blush once more as Naruto returned the favor by washing her body for her, standing behind her as he did. She was silent for a couple minutes until after Naruto was finished and she rinsed off, setting the bar of soap back in its proper spot on the wall. Naruto stayed behind her with his arms gently wrapped around her, letting her lean back against his chest as they simply relaxed under the warm rivulets of water for the moment.

"I practically confessed my own feelings for you, too. I told you that the reason I didn't come by or anything was because I was afraid. I didn't know what I was feeling and it scared me. Plus, I didn't know how you felt about everything. I was afraid that what we shared that night meant nothing to you." Anko paused slightly at that moment with a frown as she looked down, only to suddenly feel Naruto's clawed fingers cup her chin and tilt her head back before he captured her lips once again. Moaning softly into the tender and loving lip-lock, Anko was left breathless and stunned when they broke apart after only a few seconds, her eyes glazed over as she stared into Naruto's.

"What we shared, while unintended, is something that I'll cherish for the rest of my life, Anko. For the first time, I was able to feel Love and everything that came with it and not in a familial way, either. It was a love between mates. Whether we stay together or never see each other again after this, just remember that every time I look back on what we shared, I'll think of you and I'll smile. If you want to be with me, we can go at whatever pace you want, so long as you're happy. I know I am just by having you near me." Naruto, who hadn't broken eye contact the entire time he spoke, finished by kissing Anko again with more passion and emotion than before. Moaning softly, Anko slowly turned around and pressed herself against him, neither one wanting the moment to end. As they slowly separated, Anko couldn't stop the tears from welling up in her brown eyes as she smiled up at him. Seeing the tears, however, Naruto started to worry that he might have said something wrong, but before he could try to apologize, Anko pulled him down once more and gave him a soft kiss on the lips that lasted for only a moment.

"You said those same exact words last night, all the way down to the kiss. At first, I had thought it was just the alchohol, so I didn't think much of it. Now, though...I know that it was your _heart_." Anko trailed off for a moment to wipe her eyes and take a calming breath, unable to believe what she was about to say, letting her right hand rest on the left side of Naruto's chest, directly over his heart, while she took his right hand in her left. Naruto was surprised when she took his hand and placed it over her left breast so that it rested over her own heart, but not exactly in a sexual manner. "I'm not very good with words, so I'm just going to come out and say it, okay? I didn't know what it was that I was feeling, but after talking with the Sandaime and my friend Kurenai, I now know that what I was feeling...was Love."

"Anko...What-" Naruto cut himself short while Anko smiled at him, taking another deep breath to settle her nerves as she gathered the courage to finally say it.

"I _love_ you, Naruto-kun..." She admitted softly. Naruto's eyes went wide and he didn't say anything for several long moments, staring off into the distance blankly. Growing worried and a bit fearful because of her still lingering insecurities, Anko tried to get a response out of him. "N-Naru-"

She was interrupted, however, when she felt Naruto smash his lips against hers. Feeling his tongue press against her lips, she opened her mouth and allowed him access, moaning heartily as their tongues rubbed against one another. Slowly looping her arms around his neck and shoulders, Anko felt that all-too familiar fire ignite within her core as she hooked one leg around Naruto's hip and waist, pressing closer to him. Feeling one of his hands squeezing her butt cheek as he started groping her left breast with his other hand, Anko grinned into his mouth while blindly reaching over and turning the water off, only to be pushed up against the wall a moment later, drawing out another deep moan from her. She then put her hands on Naruto's chest and pushed him back a bit while regaining her footing, catching him off guard and confusing him slightly.

"Dry off. I want to do this in the bed...okay?" Anko asked softly, getting a smile from Naruto and a kiss on the forehead, something that made her blush slightly. One of her greatest desires in a man was one that would spoil her, but still know when to say 'no'. So far, Naruto had filled every single requirement she had, even forcing her to come up with a couple new ones and they didn't really know each other all that well, but she didn't care about that so much anymore. As they dried off and made their way back to the bed, Anko smirked deviously, only to push Naruto onto his back and straddle him, deciding to tease him until he was practically begging, just like he had done to her with that genjutsu of his...

xXx

"Mmm...Naru-kun?" Anko groaned as she woke up the nexted morning, finding herself alone in bed. A moment later, she heard the sound of metal striking metal, which made her eyes snap wide open before she hurried out of bed. Quickly getting dressed and heading outside as she pulled her trench coat on, Anko stopped and sighed, finding that it was only Naruto as he hammered away at a piece of super-heated steel. She could tell that he hadn't noticed her yet and knowing that, she decided to try and sneak up on him for once. Just barely getting past the vines, Anko froze when she saw Naruto pause in his work, wondering if he had detected her or not.

"THAT SON OF A BITCH!" Naruto suddenly bellowed while throwing the still glowing piece of metal, which was roughly shaped into that of a cleaver-like blade, as hard as he could while dropping his hammer. The blade soon found itself buried in the wall across the water while Naruto continued on his sudden and, so-far, unexplained rampage. "That little shit has the balls to demand a higher ranking mission and the old bastard allows it?! Does _everyone_ in this village worship that spoiled Uchiha fuck?!"

"..." Anko stayed quiet and motionless as smoke started to billow out of Naruto's mouth and nostrils before he quickly moved out over the water a good distance beyond the veil of vines and expelled a massive gout of flame straight into the air that caused the nearby rock to glow and melt slightly from the shere intensity of the heat while the water under his feet began to boil and evaporate, leaving him hidden within a dense cloud of steam and black smoke as the flames quickly died down after a few seconds. Breathing heavily from his short-lived fury, Naruto took a moment to calm back down to a more civil level before walking over to where he had thrown his newest project. Grabbing onto what would have been the handle, Naruto yanked it out of the stone and glanced over it before growling under his breath, another stream of onyx smog leaking out of his mouth.

"Fuck...I'm going to have to start over." Naruto grumbled while walking back to the island, glancing up just as he reached it and noticed that Anko was there. Quickly looking away as he felt a little ashamed that she had undoubtedly seen him lose his temper so bad, Naruto set the metal object down on the anvil. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Anko."

"Relax, Naruto-kun. Now, would you mind explaining what that was all about?" She asked while walking over to Naruto and following him back inside. Recalling his clone's memories, Naruto growled quietly, but kept himself from losing his temper again.

"My team had gone to the administration building to get a mission for the day, but that spoiled little shit, Uchiha Sasuke, just _had_ to throw a tantrum and demand a higher ranking mission on the justification that he 'needed to get stronger'." Naruto explained, scoffing as he started binding his hands and feet with his cloth wrappings. After he finished and started strapping his greaves on, he continued. "That's not all, either. That worthless bastard, Hatake, in his _infinite wisdom_, backed him up and what made it all worse was the fact that the Old Man actually gave them the damn mission!"

"Hey...Calm down, okay?" Anko urged as she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, resting her chin on his shoulder while gently kissing him on the side of his neck. Idly wondering when she figured out how to calm him down so easily, Naruto did as he was told and relaxed a little bit, but he was still quite irritated. "So, what's the mission?"

"Just a stupid C-rank escort mission to Wave Country." Naruto answered while letting Anko pull him back so that he was lying down on the bed with his head in her lap. "Some old drunk wants us to protect him while he builds a bridge that's supposed to connect Wave Country with Fire Country or something like that. It should only take a couple weeks."

"Just be careful. I don't want you taking any unneccessary risks and if I find out that you did, I'm going to make you regret it. Got that?" Anko urged at first before threatening him with a glare, getting a smirk out of Naruto. Huffing slightly, Anko tucked her bangs behind an ear before leaning down and gently kissing him, making a mental note to put her hair back up before she left. Reaching up, Naruto lightly ran his fingers through Anko's purple locks thoughtfully, an odd look forming on his face. Cocking an eye brow as she remained hunched over slightly, Anko tilted her head slightly, idly leaning into Naruto's gentle touch when he cupped her cheek. "What's that look for?"

"...You should leave your hair down more often. You look beautiful like this." Naruto answered a bit absent-mindedly, making Anko blush heavily, but she didn't protest the idea. Letting out a huff of half-hearted annoyance, Anko sat up and lightly shoved the red head in an attempt to get him to move.

"Come on, get up. You said you have a mission, so finish getting ready and go." Anko grumbled, trying to hide how flustered she was by the compliment by trying to get Naruto ready to leave. Mumbling under his breath about 'bossy women', Naruto gou up and strapped his bracers on before sliding his bone swords into place behind his waist under his rope-belt. As he tied his hitai-ate around his left bicep, Anko stepped up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, smiling happily as she rubbed her cheek against his warm back; she just couldn't get over how warm he was and she knew that she would love and abuse such a thing when winter came around in a few months. She nearly pouted when Naruto pried her arms off of him, but managed to cover it up with a slight scowl. "Jerk...I was enjoying myself..."

"Hey, who's the one that was trying to get me to leave a moment ago?" Naruto shot back, making Anko actually pout childishly this time as she plopped down on the bed with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring off to the side. Openly laughing at her reaction, Naruto started heading outside while Anko begrudgingly followed after him, putting her hair up in its usual style and putting her hitai-ate on as she did. Though secretly reluctant, they both went their separate ways after agreeing to meet back up when Naruto returned from his mission. As he arrived at the gate, Naruto let his displeasure be known almost as soon as he landed, black smoke continuously rolling out from the corners of his mouth and nostrils as he glared at the Uchiha, who seemed pretty smug for getting what he wanted.

"Well, well, well. You've finally decided to grace-" Kakashi's taunt was cut short when Naruto turned his narrowed eyes on him. The jounin wasn't sure why, but the fact that he didn't feel any killing intent coming from the red head and wasn't pressured to dodge any kind of deadly attack kind of worried him. What was even more unnerving was the fact that he had absolutely no idea what it was he did to anger the Slayer...He would have to pay close attention to what he said and did around Naruto for a while. For the moment, however, he held his hands up in defeat. "Alright, alright. I got the message; I'll stop."

"So, uh...You think I'll be okay with these guys protecting me?" Tazuna whispered almost conspiratorially from beside Naruto while looking towards the others. The bridge builder then took a drink of his sake before continuing. "I mean, the brat looks like he could barely fight his way out of a wet paper bag and the girl looks like she's super afraid of her own shadow. Then there's that sensei of yours; are you sure such a super laid back and irresponsible looking guy is as reliable as he said he was?"

"..." Instead of answering the man's questions, Naruto simply stared down at Tazuna with a blank expression before grinning wickedly. "You know what, Tazuna-san? I think you and me are going to become good friends."

xXx

"Are we there yet?" Naruto inquired from the back of the group in a bored tone, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he slouched slightly. Having been asked the same question every five minutes since they left camp that morning, Kakashi was quite irritated by the red head.

"Damn it, Naruto! No, we're not there yet and we won't be until some time tomorrow afternoon!" Kakashi snapped without looking back at Naruto, but if he did, he would have seen the mischievous grin on his face, having been purposefully irritating the man all morning to entertain himself and to help pass the time. Walking at a civilian's pace was boring and slow, but Naruto honestly liked the opportunity to just relax and take it easy; being uptight and serious all the time wasn't his thing. Sure, he was pissed off almost all the time, but that was because of other people's stupidity. Now that he was outside of the village for the first time in the past year, Naruto felt...at peace. Bored, but at peace. Ignoring his team as Hinata struck up a conversation with Tazuna and Kakashi, Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets and was going to simply enjoy the peace and serenity of the forest while he could, but he caught a faint scent on the wind, his eyes narrowing in response. It was a scent he was quite familiar with...

_'What are you doing here, Kira?'_ Naruto mentally questioned despite knowing that he wouldn't get an answer. He knew that if Kira was around, so were her three students. Snorting out a small cloud of smoke, Naruto focused his senses more and examined his surroundings more arrucately without drawing attention to himself. He could smell two scents, both male, that he recognized as the Demon Brothers. But why were they possibly working with Kira? As far as he knew, Meizu and Gouzu had a vendetta against Kira for killing their older sister while they were on conflicting missions. Naruto knew because he had been there. _'Geez...This just keeps getting more and more complicated. Why can't things just go smoothly for once?'_

Sighing heavily as he and his team passed by a rather innocent looking puddle, Naruto casually pulled his hands out of his pocket before drawing his swords. Jumping back a couple feet, Naruto easily avoided the bladed chain of the Demon Brothers, only to spin and thrust both of his swords forward, skewering their extended gauntleted arms, making them both scream in pain and drawing the attention of his team mates and their client. Twisting the blades slightly and causing them both to drop to their knees with another pair of screams, Naruto slowly turned his head towards Kakashi with a cold look in his eyes that made the jounin shiver.

"Get them out of here, Hatake. I have _history_ with these two." Naruto growled out before turning back around to face the two chuunin-level shinobi in front of him as they writhed in agony, clutching at their still-impaled arms as they let out pained grunts and whimpers. Knowing it was best to simply listen at the moment, Kakashi started leading the rest of Team 7 and Tazuna away from the area. Once they were gone, Naruto roughly and brutally yanked his swords free, the near-invisible serated teeth running along the edge of his blades ripping into the already injured flesh of their forearms, drawing out twin cries of pain from the Demon Brothers. Before either brother could attempt to even _think_ of retaliating, Naruto stabbed his swords through their uninjured hands, staking them to the ground and drawing out another pair of screams. His eyes only narrowed darkly as he snarled quietly, black smoke leaking out of his mouth. "I want answers and I want them now. Why are you here?"

"TH-THE OLD MAN! We were hired to kill the old man!" Gouzu howled when Naruto purposefully pulled on his sword slightly before pushing on it, causing the serated edge to grind against one of the bones in his hand, partially sawing into it. Naruto only growled louder than before as he ripped his sword free of Gouzu's hand, only to expell a small fireball, painfully burning the man's right leg before stabbing his sword back into Gouzu's hand, ignoring his screams.

"Don't bullshit with me, Gouzu. I know that's not why you're _really_ here." Naruto snapped before shoving his sword down, causing it to bury itself into the ground up to the guard-less hilt, keeping Gouzu's hand where it was as he crouched down and grabbed Meizu by the neck. "I suggest you start talking, Gouzu. Meizu here looks pretty cold...Maybe I should help him _warm up_, hm?"

"Don't you touch him, you bastard!" Gouzu growled at the red head, watching as Naruto slowly turned his gaze back to him as black smoke billowed out of his slightly opened mouth and from his nostrils. Gritting his teeth, Gouzu knew he had been defeated; there was nothing he could do now. "Kira. We took this job so that we had a shot at getting back at Kira for killing our sister, Tenshi...You can do whatever you want with me, just...Just let Meizu go..."

"Gouzu, you-" Meizu was silenced by a debilitating punch to the face, nearly knocking him out as Naruto growled at him. Brandishing his claws, Naruto held them at Meizu's throat.

"Where is she?" The red head snarled while Gouzu was growing more and more fearful for his brother's life as one of the giant's obsidian claws gently grazed Meizu's neck, easily slicing through the cloth covering it and leaving a thin scratch that drew a single drop of blood. "Don't make me repeat myself, Gouzu."

"W-Wave Country. Go to Taifuu village and then head seven kilometers due east. Go three kilometers north from there. You'll find a bungallow built on the side of a tree. She'll be there." Gouzu directed, biting back a curse as the sword was ripped from his hand, his brother unable to resist it as well. Before he or Meizu could say or do anything, Naruto thrust his bone blades toward them once more, piercing their hearts and killing them. Pulling his weapons free, Naruto took a moment to clean them of blood before breathing a decent sized flame onto the corpses that burnt them to ash within minutes. Sheathing his swords once more, Naruto stuffed his hands back in his pockets and started walking back down the road, his eyes narrowed and fiercer than usual...

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Senkou Taihou- Scarlet Cannon

Guren- Crimson Lotus

Tanka- Red Flower

Taifuu- Typhoon


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Just so no one gets confused or anything, this is a 'Flashback Chapter', I guess you could call it. Yes, it ties in with the Wave Arc, but the 'Present Chapter' will take place next chapter. Please enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Dragon's Blood

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Chapter Four

Water Country. Said to have beaches of the softest and warmest white sands with the best waves for surfers. It was also under absolute lock-down, engaged in a civil war between two factions and over one thing; Bloodlines. The 'anti-bloodline' faction, based almost entirely out of Kirigakure no Sato, hunted down and slaughtered countless people just because they possessed a bloodline, something brought about by the Yondaime Mizukage for some strange, unknown reason. The 'pro-bloodline' faction was best described as a guerilla force of rebels made up of those with, and even without, bloodlines as they fought for the lives of other bloodline-wielders and their own. Because of the civil war, people didn't come to Water Country anymore, fearing that they might get caught in the fighting. One person, however, disregarded such dangers in search of several things...

The dark shadow moved swiftly through the water from below the surface, appearing almost as if it were in its natural element while using the waves to help propel it forward. As it drew closer to shore, however, it was quickly discovered that it wasn't a creature of the sea when a rather tall boy of about ten years of age stood up in the waist-deep shallows, his crimson hair, reaching almost half-way down his back, plastered to his bare torso as he trudged through the last few meters of sea water, dark red tribal tattoos decorating his face and neck, his entire back, most of his chest, and down to his elbows on his arms. He was dressed in a pair of baggy dark red pants that seemed a bit too big on him with white tribal flame designs covering the leggings from the cuffs that dragged on the ground all the way up to about where his knees were, and a solid white rope was tied around his waist in the form of a belt with the two knotted ends having been dyed dark crimson. Ruby irises bearing black slit pupils rested in pools of obsidian as they glanced from one side to the other in search of any possible threats, his pointed ears listening for any sounds of battle or movement while he sniffed the air, checking for hostile scents. Finding none, the boy suddenly heaved a heavy sigh and slumped to the ground, feeling terribly exhausted after swimming from Fire Country's eastern shore all the way across the sea to Water Country.

"Never again...I'm never...swimming across...that damn ocean...ever again..." Naruto gasped out, finally allowing himself to relax after running on pure adrenaline for the past six hours. Flopping over onto his back as the waves lapped at his feet, Naruto stared up at the night sky, the remnants of his child-like innocence marveling at the abundance of stars he could see since there weren't any clouds out that night. The full moon was still low in the sky, having only grown dark out three hours ago; which proved irritating since Naruto learned the hard way that sharks liked to hunt at night in the waters he had been passing through. It wasn't long before exhaustion began to set in and try as he might, he couldn't fight off unconsciousness for long, eventually falling asleep. Almost an hour later, a group of shinobi came across the slumbering boy.

"Is he dead?" One of three young girls inquired timidly, having never liked the idea of death or killing. The only adult, a woman, knelt down beside him and saw the steady rise and fall of his chest.

"No, he's just sleeping." She answered before standing up and continuing to walk, wanting to put as much distance between her and Kiri as possible.

"K-Kira-sama, we can't just leave him like this! What if the Hunter-nin find him?!" One of the other girls called out, stopping the woman, Kira, in her tracks. As much as she couldn't afford to take on another 'traveling companion', Kira knew that the child had a bloodline from his appearance and if any of that bastard Yagura's 'Undertakers' found the boy, he'd be killed mercilessly and most likely tortured before then in an attempt to get information on the location of other people with bloodlines. Cursing her slowly awakening maternal instincts, Kira turned back around and picked the boy up without a word before returning to their journey, the three girls following behind her as they chatted animatedly about the boy that looked to be about their age. Well, two of them did...

"I wonder how he got here. He doesn't match the description of any bloodline clans I've heard of." The second girl stated curiously while staring up at the boy in their Mistress's arms. "Maybe he's from another country?"

"But, Ao-chan...how would he get here? I didn't see any sort of boat or any wreckage and he couldn't have swam all the way here." The first girl countered while the third one stayed silent, a sheathed tanto gripped in her left hand. "Perhaps he's got a new bloodline? Or maybe he doesn't have a bloodline to begin with?"

"But look at his ears, Haku! And he's got claws and fangs, too! Not only that, but he's got all of those weird tattoos!" The second girl, Ao, argued back, her words making Kira think as she glanced down at the kid she was carrying. He most definitely had a bloodline and she couldn't pin-point it, but something about the boy's appearance made her feel as if she knew just what kind of bloodline it was, but couldn't remember. She knew of only a few bloodline clans that sported red hair as a common trait, but if he turned out to be a part of _that_ clan, he could either be a priceless ally or a deadly enemy in the future. For now, though, he was just a boy.

Kuroyuri could only sigh quietly as her two companions continued to ramble on about the mysterious boy. Granted, she was curious about him herself, but she was patient and would wait for her questions to be answered. Gripping her tanto a little tighter, Kuroyuri narrowed her eyes slightly...

xXx

"Ngh...Damn, I must have over slept again..." Naruto mumbled as he slowly sat up, yawning as the blanket pooled in his lap. Pausing in mid-stretch, he looked down and blinked with confusion. Blanket? Didn't he pass out on the beach? Where did the blanket come from? Glancing around, he found himself in what appeared to be a cave along the coast, the smoldering remains of a small camp fire resting not too far away. Getting up and folding the blanket and travel fuuton he had been lying on, Naruto quietly made his way to the opening, his eyes narrowed as they adjusted to the mid-morning sun light while he ran his fingers through his shaggy and spiky crimson hair.

"Leaving so soon?" Kira spoke up, breaking the silence and startling the red head, inadvertantly making him trip and fall flat on his face, forcing the wind out of his lungs and causing him to accidentally expell a small burst of flames from his lips. Quirking an eye brow at the seemingly clutzy boy while her previous suspiciouns about his bloodline were confirmed by the 'flame breath', Kira watched calmly from her spot, staring down at the red haired kid from her perch atop the mouth of the cave, her legs hanging over the edge.

"Don't scare me like that, damn it!" Naruto snarled as he jumped to his feet and glared up at the woman. She stood at about 5'11" with smooth shoulder-length black hair, pale skin, and honey-brown eyes. She was dressed simply in a pair of dark blue-grey pants that were snug around her broad hips and shapely rear while the rest of the leggings were baggy, a sleeveless and midriff-bearing dark blue-grey top with a low-cut collar that was stretched tight over her large F-cup breasts and looked like it barely fit her from the way the top was straining to contain her bust, dark blue-grey bicep-high fingerless gloves covering most of her arms, white cloth wrappings coiled around her neck and the lower half of her face in the likeness of a cloth face mask, and a Kiri hitai-ate tied around her head that was tilted a bit off to the side while pinning her bangs back so that they didn't get in her eyes. There was a rather obvious slash mark running across the metal plate, marking her as a missing-nin. While he didn't know her identity, she was Momochi "Kira" Kirara, the Succubus of the Bloody Mist and A-rank Kiri missing-nin, former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and weilder of Kubikiri Houcho; she was also the second woman to ever make it into the Seven Swordsmen. "Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"You're pretty fiesty for a brat, aren't you?" Kira mumbled quietly while staring down at the boy, who didn't seem all that concerned about...anything, really. Well, apart from the fact she startled him, but that was a moot point. "So, what's an Uzumaki doing here in Water Country? I thought you were a part of the mainland clans."

"...How did you know I'm an Uzumaki?" Naruto questioned quietly, his eyes narrowing dangerously, which impressed Kira slightly. It wasn't often she encountered a child that had seen death and had taken lives; she could tell from the way he tensed his clawed fingers and most of the muscles in his body, obviously having grown used to defending himself at some point in the past.

"Not many clans have such vibrant red hair nor do they have bloodlines that give them the ability to actually breathe fire, kid. While I've never heard of one having such strange characteristics as you, I know my fair share about a lot of bloodline clans; I had to, having been a participant during the first Bloodline Purges." Kira answered while dropping down to the ground, bringing Kubikiri Houcho with her, landing in front of the boy with ease despite the obvious bulk of her zanbatou. She was impressed further when he didn't even flinch at the fact she now stood only a couple feet from him with a massive zanbatou resting on her shoulder, standing in front of him and essentially cutting off his ability to leave. Most people, even shinobi, tended to be intimidated at least _a little bit_ whenever they saw her sword. "So, are you going to answer my question or not?"

"..." Naruto stayed silent as he stubbornly tried to walk around her, only to stop in mid-step when he found the edge of Kubikiri level with his throat, but he didn't seem nervous about it in the least. In fact, he slowly turned his head to glare at her before suddenly spitting out a blast of fire. Cursing, Kira was forced to jump back before she was badly burned, just barely avoiding injury after putting out a small fire on her right wrist that had caught on her glove. As a result, Naruto's path was no longer blocked, but his escape was quickly cut short when Kira threw her zanbatou, the massive blade digging into the ground just beyond where Naruto was and a few feet off to the side. Eyes going wide, Naruto couldn't stop in time before his head made contact with the long handle of Kubikiri Houcho, knocking him flat on his back and stunning him momentarily, giving Kira enough time to walk over to him, glaring at him with irritation.

"You're lucky the girls seem to like you for whatever reason or else I just might have killed you for that little stunt, brat." Kira growled out, only to recieve a snarl of defiance from the red head as he got back to his feet.

"Stop calling me _brat_..." Kira couldn't stop herself from smirking at the boy's anger, idly noticing that the girls were on their way back from their morning bath.

"Oh, yeah? And what are you going to do if I don't, _brat_?" She taunted, though a part of her warned her not to rile him up so bad, which was quickly ignored and countered with the knowledge that the boy couldn't do anything to seriously hurt her. Her answer was a ball of blazing-hot fire that filled her vision, her eyes going wide with shock...

xXx

"...Damn little bastard..." Kira growled quietly to herself, sitting in the back of the cave they had taken refuge in with a fierce blush on her face while glaring venomously at the red haired _hellion_ that had decided it would be a good idea to torch her clothes. _Again_. Thankfully, her wrappings were left untouched, keeping her chest and face covered, but her pants hadn't been so lucky, being almost completely burned away like her top had been. She was even luckier that her underwear hadn't been burned also and that she also kept spare changes of clothes stored in a scroll for emergencies. It was something she had started doing after they first met each other just over two years ago, having suffered a similar fate that was much more humiliating back then since she hadn't been prepared for such a thing to happen; physically or mentally. Said red head had a rather fiendish and mischievous fanged smirk of victory on his face as he held Kira's gaze, completely ignoring the irate ranting of Ao, who was being held back from beating him up in her moment of 'Female Fury' by a frantic Haku, who was nervously trying to calm her friend down, while a stoic Kuroyuri simply watched from the sidelines with a blank expression.

Despite what happened when they first met and after being begged by all three of the girls, which nearly gave her a heart attack since even the ever-emotionless Kuroyuri joined in on the collective use of 'Puppy Dog Eyes' and was ironically the most talented at it, Kira had eventually caved in and 'offered' Naruto the choice of traveling with them or not. By 'offer', Kira hadn't really given Naruto much of a choice in the matter with her tone and the words she used, but it was mostly because she knew the three girls she had taken under her wing would be quite unhappy if he didn't come with them. She absolutely _refused_ to let that happen, but Kira had been smart enough to hide the fact she had a soft-spot for the trio of little girls that she was gradually coming to see as her daughters in the, then, short time they had known one another. Now, she was just as much of a mother to the three girls as their birth-mothers had been. Hell, in the past two years, she had even come to see the tricky and devious little shit, Naruto, as her son, but also refused to admit it outloud. Mostly out of spite for him always burning her clothes or some other cruel act of pyromancy he commited against her every so often.

"Okaa-sama." Mugetsu Kuroyuri, twelve years old, stated calmly from a couple feet away, sitting on her knees with her legs tucked under her and her hands resting in her lap in a formal manner. Having come from a bloodline clan that originally descended from samurai with certain...talents, Kuroyuri was a firm follower of honor, respect, and loyalty. She was dressed plainly in a pair of baggy black hakama with white stitching, a black long-sleeve turtleneck that clung to her body like a second skin and pronounced her developing B-cup bust, black tabbi socks and black wooden geta on her feet, black fingerless gloves on her hands, and a black cloth face mask tucked into the collar of her top and pulled up over her nose to hide the bottom half of her face. Her waist-length silky raven black hair was pulled back into a high pony-tail held in place by a single white hair-tie, her prized wakizashi and tanto resting at her left hip.

Both swords had a simple, solid black wooden sheathe with silver-white metal guards of plain design, their handles bound in black cloth with white diamonds of fabric running along their length, the pommels capped with silver-white metal. While they weren't the greatest of swords, they held sentimental value to her. Naruto, who had been learning how to make weapons during the past year, had offered to make her a wakizashi and a new tanto since her old one had been broken in the middle of a fight. The metal was only mid-grade and the edge had to be sharpened more often than usual, but because it had been crafted through the use of Naruto's flame breath, the metal had become chakra-conductive by the time they had been finished. So long as she channeled her chakra through them, they were strong enough to hold out against even Kira's Kubikiri Houcho and sharp enough to cut through rock. She would have to get a new pair soon, however. The blades had served her well, but they had taken too much of a beating during the past six months.

"What is it, Kuroyuri? Is something wrong?" Kira asked calmly, her anger forgotten as she faced the youngest child with Haku being the eldest at fourteen and Ao being in the middle at thirteen. Naruto had just turned twelve roughly five months ago, about a month and a half before Kuroyuri's own birthday. Kuroyuri was quiet for a few moments as she stared down at the ground in thought before speaking up.

"I have a bad feeling about the job, Okaa-sama." The young swordswoman-in-training answered, her usual apathetic monotone having become laced with a hint of worry that Kira was hard-pressed to catch notice of. Instead of asking what it was exactly that bothered her about the mission, which she wanted to do, Kira stayed quiet and let Kuroyuri speak. "I believe our client is setting us up, Okaa-sama. I think it might be a trap."

"..." Kira was silent for a few moments, honestly having had similar thoughts on the matter. Their client was a wealthy jewelry merchant that wanted them to 'retrieve' some items from a rival dealer of gems and precious metals. Supposedly, one of the items they are to steal is rumored to be a gem with the ability to give someone the power of a dragon, something that had caught Naruto's attention and suspicioun, having originally come to Water Country in search of artifacts and relics of his clan that had been hidden away, stolen, or simply lost through history. Said item sounded eerily similar to one of the relics he was looking for. After hearing about that, Naruto had refused to even reconsider _not_ taking the job, being dead-set on confirming the rumors about the gem. He had even told them that he would still take the job even if they didn't, but he never let them know as to why. Even in the past two years, he had refused to tell them about why he came to Water Country. "You aren't the only one, Kuroyuri, but there isn't anything we can do about that. We can only prepare for the worst and do the mission; we need the money."

"...Hai, Okaa-sama." Kuroyuri acknowledged, letting go of the subject before returning to her original spot prior to approaching Kira, said woman taking the moment to examine each of her other three students. First up was the oldest one, Yuki Haku, who had chocolate brown eyes and long black hair that she kept up in a bun for the most part with a length of it left to fall to the base of her neck, her chin-length bangs framing her face. She was dressed in a pair of plain black form-fitting pants, a dark blue and light grey camouflage long-sleeve turtleneck that also did little to hide her own blossoming physique and made her C-cup bust more noticable, black gloves on her hands, black sandals on her feet, and a white Kiri hunter-nin mask that she had stolen off one of the last 'Undertakers' sent after them with a red swirl design painted on it. She was the last member of the Yuki clan, if not one of the last. Blessed with the Hyouton bloodline, Haku was capable of combining Wind and Water chakra to create Ice, opening a great many doors for her in terms of ninjutsu since Wind was primarily an offensive element and Water was primarily defensive with some offensive abilities. She would most likely have to invent her own Hyouton techniques, however, if they didn't find any Yuki clan scrolls.

Then there was the spirited Umioso Ao, being the most strangely dressed of the three girls. She had emerald green eyes and deep blue hair that she kept quite short with the only exception being her bangs, which reached down to the tops of her shoulders. Her clothing, which was made of a water-proof material not unlike that of civilian diving suits, was..._unique_, to put it nicely. 'Revealing' was more realistic, but Kira, for the life of her, couldn't figure out what prompted the girl to find her choice in clothing...acceptable, let alone proper for a young girl her age. Hell, even Kira wouldn't be caught dead in something like Ao wore and she was the 'Succubus of the Bloody Mist'! Her short-sleeve top consisted of the dark blue water-proof material that covered her arms from the middle of her biceps up to her shoulders, across her upper and middle back, along the top of her shoulders and collar bone, and around her neck all the way up to the base of her jaw with only a pair of dark blue bands of the material crossing over her chest in an X that attached to the material once more, the bands not even covering half of her B-cup breasts and just barely hiding her nipples from sight. Dark blue tip-less gloves of the same material covered the rest of her arms and connected with her 'sleeves', slender diamonds of electric blue decorating the inside of her elbows while a Y-shaped shard of similar electric blue ran along the front of her throat and along the base of her jaw line that ended just beneath her ears. The bottom half of her body was no better, being made up of a pair of incredibly small short-shorts of the dark blue water-proof material that honestly looked no different that the bottom half of a two-piece bathing suit or panties. Her legs, from her ankles up to the middle of her thighs, were covered in the exact same dark blue material with her feet being covered in the material as well that conformed to her toes like a 'foot' glove, only with thin black soles for padding when she wasn't in the water without hindering her speed or maneuverability while in the water. Attached to the back of her 'shorts' were two kunai holsters of the same dark blue material, both holsters set horizontally and behind either hip.

As for Naruto's appearance, he hadn't changed much other than taking to using a pair of wakizashi he had lifted from a dead Kiri hunter-nin he and Haku had double-teamed, the hunter-nin being the same one Haku had gotten her mask from. The red head had taken to wearing them behind his waist with the sheathes slipped under his rope-belt and tied to it to keep them in place during rough battles. She, along with Kuroyuri, had been helping him learn how to use them while she had been teaching him more about Water chakra and Suiton techniques. Kira still couldn't get over the way Naruto seemed to soak up everything he was taught like a sponge; nothing escaped him and whenever he couldn't get something right, it didn't take him long to find a way around it. He had actually made a couple of his own techniques by accident that way, something that shocked the former Kiri jounin. However, she would only see him perform a technique with handseals _once_ and he would eventually disappear for several hours every day, training in private, but every time he used a technique after that, it would be done _without_ handseals and mostly through raw and pure elemental chakra manipulation. Somehow, the boy was able to achieve something that had only been heard of in the Nidaime Hokage of Konoha, who was said to use powerful Suiton techniques such as Suiryuudan with as little as three handseals out of the two dozen it normally required.

She could only speculate as to how Naruto was capable of learning how to do such unbelievable things, since the only actual possession she knew he had, apart from his clothing, was a single dark crimson scroll with the kanji for 'Dragon' in the center in white...

Although Naruto had reserves closer to Kira's own, Ao had the highest chakra capacity amongst the girls, her clan having been amongst the strongest Water-users in all of Water Country. They were also the best swimmers and masters of underwater combat, having the inate ability to hold their breath for as long as ten minutes, on average, while underwater without any ill-effects on their health; not exactly a bloodline, but the Yondaime Mizukage still it considered as such and had them hunted down as well. Ao could also form handseals drastically faster than her fellow 'siblings', but Haku had her beat with the ability to form _one-handed_ seals. Then again, Naruto never had a need for handseals ninety-eight percent of the time, apparently, so he had them both beat without even actually trying. Kuroyuri, while the slowest in forming handseals and having the smallest reserves, was the most talented in kenjutsu and taijutsu, which was second only to Naruto's, but that was mostly because he was strong enough to break through any guard, making it nearly impossible for someone to safely remain on the defensive against him. Speed wise, Haku came in first place, hands down. Ao was second to her in that, but also took first place when in the water. Kuroyuri was in third when it came to movement speed while Naruto was, by far, the slowest of them, but his speed and agility in the water was second only to Ao's, something that kind of surprised Kira. The only thing she couldn't help them with was genjutsu for all four of them, seeing as she wasn't exactly skilled at it herself while Naruto was simply incapable of using it to begin with, but she also couldn't help Naruto with his Fire and Earth affinities, having only a Water affinity herself. Thus, Naruto had taken to learning how to forge weapons to build up his Fire affinity while trying to figure out, through trial and error, how to create metals by compressing select minerals in the earth to help strengthen his Earth affinity; this particular part wasn't going so well.

"..." Kira was silent for a few more minutes as she dismissed her thoughts for later, noticing what time it was. Waiting for Ao to finally stop trying to attack Naruto, Kira cleared her throat and gained the attention of all four of her students/'children'/traveling companions. "Get ready. It's almost time for us to head out for the mission."

"Hai." The three girls acknowledged respectfully before going about packing up their belongings while Naruto simply yawned and leaned back against the wall. Although it wasn't the first time, Kira knew it wouldn't be the last time she wondered about her only 'son'. He didn't have any sort of camping equipment such as a tent or sleeping bag; nothing. She had been concerned about that when they first started traveling together, but learned quickly that there was a reason why he didn't have any. He didn't _need_ any of it. His body was simply too warm for him to get cold, he seemed pretty comfortable with sleeping outside on the bare ground, no matter what it was, and he had told them only a couple things about his past, one of them being that he had been hunting for his food daily since he was seven and he was quite good at it. He had also told them that he had been living out in the wild for about just as long. Dismissing her thoughts, Kira started packing her own things, focusing her attention back on the mission...

xXx

Namiyoke village was a peaceful little town on Water Country's far eastern shore that sat near the base of a sea-side cliff, but the waters were almost always calm, even during severe storms, making it a rather nice place to live. Like its name stated, Namiyoke village was still protected from the ocean by a rather thick and long wall of stone that separated the outskirts of town from the gentle waves that lapped at the smooth rock; just in case a truly powerful storm comes and causes any seriously large waves that could possibly damage the town. That night was no different than any other. The stars shined in the sky around a Full Moon, a touch of fog veiling the village, but not by much.

Suddenly, three girls and a grown woman were sent flying through a door just moments before the warehouse they had previously been occupying was instantly devoured by a devastating explosion...

"NARUTO!" Kuroyuri suddenly screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. He had sacrificed himself so that they could live. She could only stare at the flaming wreckage of the warehouse with wide onyx eyes that reflected the destruction before her even as two dozen Kiri hunter-nin landed all around them in a complete circle, five being jounin-level and seven of them being chuunin. Dragged off the ground from her knees and to her feet by Haku, Kuroyuri didn't outwardly react at all. She didn't exactly hear what one of the hunter-nin said, but she knew it was an insult to Naruto, judging from the mocking laughter of a few of the hunter-nin around him as he glanced back at the ruins of the warehouse. Before anyone could say or do anything, Kuroyuri had already drawn her blades and charged forward, pushing herself to move faster than she ever had before as she charged her swords with her chakra, coating the blades in a condensed shell of pale blue energy. No one moved as three hunter-nin instantly lost their lives when Kuroyuri swung her wakizashi, bisecting them at the waist in a single move.

"Don't...Insult...Naruto-sama..." She hissed through her tears, gritting her teeth as she became filled with rage, never noticing how her black eyes slowly started fading to grey before coming pure white, the pupil of either eye slowly shifting to become a thin ring instead of a solid dot. The chakra coating her swords flickered slightly before slowly turning a more silvery white color. Spinning around on her heel, she used a technique Naruto had been helping her create, swinging her wakizashi in a horizontal arc while expelling the chakra shell that had coated it. "GETSUGA!"

The crescent blade of silver chakra shot forward at speeds none of them had expected, cleaving through another four hunter-nin, three managing to escape its straight-away path. Having used up the rest of her available chakra with that one attack, however, Kuroyuri's eyes shifted back to normal and dropped to her knees, gasping for breath and barely staying conscious. Unfortunately, the only ones that Kuroyuri had killed had been the seven chuunin-level hunter-nin; very impressive for her, but the danger was still very great. After that, all hell broke loose...

"Suiton: Suiben!" One of the remaining five hunter-nin exclaimed before a thin tendril of water lashed out at Kuroyuri, only to strike the flat of Kubikiri as Kira used it like a shield to protect the exhausted and distraught aspiring swordswoman. Ao was already flashing through handseals alongside Haku, both using the exact same technique with surprising skill.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan!" Both girls cried out, causing twin serpents of water to rise from the sea and bear down on the five 'Undertakers', forcing them to split up lest they lose their lives. One broke to the far right and another to the far left, only to be intercepted by Ao and Haku while the remaining three were left to Kira. Despite them being jounin, the two young girls held the advantage of surprise as well as unique skills that caught their targets off guard, resulting in their swift deaths. Haku's fell to her senbon and newly finished Hyouton: Makyo Hyousho technique before having his throat slit open while Ao's was kicked out over the sea wall, only to be dragged down under the depths and held there until the masked woman drowned. Kira, having a bit more trouble, had cleaved one of the hunter-nin in half early on, but was struggling to fend off both of the remaining shinobi simultaneously.

"..." Kuroyuri was nearly catatonic as she remained on her knees, slumped over slightly as she stared at the ground with teary eyes, unable to believe that Naruto had actually died. Hearing the clash of blades, she was slowly drawn from her stupor to find Kira having trouble with the two hunter-nin. Slowly reaching into a pocket as her black eyes slowly regained their light and strength, Kuroyuri retrieved something that Naruto had taught her, Haku, and Ao how to make themselves; soldier pills. It was more of a last resort than anything for them since they didn't last as long as the more common store-bought soldier pills, but it had been something that had let them survive and defeat several teams of hunter-nin in the past. Popping the pill into her mouth and biting down on it, Kuroyuri forced herself to her feet, her swords gripped tightly in her hands. "..."

"Che...This is getting tiresome, bitch." The male hunter-nin growled as his katana was blocked yet again by Kira's zanbatou, only to get kicked in the chest and knocked back several meters. Spinning around, Kira ducked under the female hunter-nin's katana, causing the masked woman to pass her up and revealing an opening in her guard. Continuing with the rotation, Kira took advantage of her exposed back and swung Kubikiri, easily cutting the woman in half at the waist. However, Kira's victory was short-lived as she was forced to block another attack from the sole surviving hunter-nin's katana. Blocking another attack, Kira was caught off guard when the man amplified his strength with chakra, pushing her back slightly, but it was enough to unbalance her. Just as the man rose his katana to finish her off, he suddenly stopped...only for a wakizashi blade covered in silver chakra to stick out of his chest. It was quickly followed up by a similarly glowing tanto to be stabbed into the base of his neck, only for both blades to snap at their bases, just above their guards. The body fell forward and remained motionless.

"That was for Naruto-sama..." Kuroyuri wrasped out through her heavy breathing, glaring down at the dead hunter-nin. Calming back down, Kuroyuri slowly sunk back down to her knees, allowing herself to break down into tears as she gripped the now-bladeless handles of her wakizashi and tanto to her chest. Sensing more chakra signatures heading their way, Kira knew they didn't have time to waste and instead of arguing, simply picked Kuroyuri up and started running with Ao and Haku right beside her. Had they stayed only five more minutes, they would have seen a large piece of sheet metal get shoved aside along with a few burning rafters, some mangled scrap metal, and bits of rock. Standing up from where he had been buried, Naruto grunted quietly before realizing he was standing in the middle of a fire, but he wasn't getting burned. Looking down at the necklace that now hung around his neck, Naruto watched as the green gem glowed brightly before the light seemingly transferred over to his body, causing _him_ to glow for a moment before it vanished.

"Weird..." He mumbled before stepping out of the wreckage and over to where the brief battle had taken place, noticing the bodies. Suddenly picking up the scents and sounds of approaching enemies, Naruto drew his pair of wakizashi in reverse-grips, spinning around to face them just as they landed in a semi-circle; it was only eight hunter-nin, the strongest of them only being high-chuunin in skill. They had been the 'back-up' team that was to come in after a few minutes to give the primary team any assistance if their targets were still alive by the time they arrived. However, the initial team was dead...

"What the hell...What happened here?!" The leader exclaimed, suddenly feeling nervous. Not afraid, but nervous. Nervousness quickly became anger when he saw the body of his older brother, the last hunter-nin to have been killed. "You...You killed my brother!"

"What?" Naruto muttered quietly in confusion, only to growl as he was forced to dodge a ninjato, which was quickly followed up by several other attacks from the rest of the hunter-nin. Snarling as his temper started to get the better of him, Naruto gathered a large amount of chakra in his lungs, his eyes flashing yellow for a moment before he exhaled. The screams of three hunter-nin filled the air as they were swallowed up by the flames, going silent after only a few seconds as they were incinerated. Strangely enhanced battle instincts roared out at him, making him lean back and to the side just in time to avoid having a new breathing hole forcefully carved into his neck. Getting angrier by the moment, Naruto's eyes flashed yellow once more without him knowing before he flipped his wakizashi into standard forward-grips, only to breathe fire on them and wreathe them in his flames. Spinning around to his left, Naruto blocked a swing from a hunter-nin's katana with his left wakizashi, only for his second blade to clash with the katana, spitting flaming embers and super-heated sparks from the contact that made the man flinch back, inadvertantly giving Naruto the opening he needed. Continuing the spin, Naruto thrust his right wakizashi into the man's side and up into his ribcage, skewering his heart and seering the wound. Yanking the blade free, Naruto jumped back to avoid being crushed by the zanbatou used by one of the other hunter-nin.

"Leave...me...**ALONE!"** Naruto suddenly bellowed, his eyes staying yellow this time as he expelled an even more intense blaze of fire than before, causing the gathered hunter-nin to scatter. They were thankful that they had planned ahead and evacuated most of the people in the town prior to springing their trap or else things might have taken a turn for the worst, the gout of flames quickly destroying numerous buildings that were caught in its path. They were quickly being forced onto the defensive, however, as Naruto released another blast of fire before engaging another hunter-nin...

After that day, word of a Red Devil would spread like wild-fire...

xXx

"Hmph...Fucking prick..." Naruto snarled, now thirteen, as he removed the crimson bracers and greaves from the limbs of his latest 'hunt'; it had been a meager C-rank Konoha nuke-nin hiding out in Water Country admist the Bloodline Civil War to keep Konoha hunter-nin from tracking him down and with Kiri hunter-nin focusing on people with bloodlines, it was actually easier to hide than people thought. What made him so important for Naruto to hunt him down was the fact he possessed pieces of his clan's relics; the bracers and greaves. They had been made and used by one of the original Slayers that enhanced a person's Earth affinity, giving them a passive ability that made it much harder to cut them. Much like the gem hanging from his neck, the pieces of armor glowed green for a moment after he put them on before the light transferred over to Naruto's body, a sign that the ability it granted the wearer had been activated. Being a Slayer, the abilities were more like permanent enhancements for Naruto, but they would only be at full-strength so long as he was wearing the items and half-strength when he wasn't.

Growling quietly under his breath as he felt the armor pieces start chaffing slightly, even though he had _just_ put them on, Naruto made a mental note to get some wrappings to keep from getting any irritating blisters or something. He may have a healing factor, but it didn't exactly hold up very well against stupid little things like blisters for some reason. It was another reason why he went without sandals or any other form of footwear, though the claws on his toes helped in his 'arguement'. With all the traveling and walking he did, it made footwear rather uncomfortable. Grumbling quietly under his breath about having to swim _back_ across the ocean he swore never to swim across again, Naruto started making his way towards Water Country's eastern coast now that he had found just about all of the Uzumaki clan relics rumored to be on the continent. Thankful for starting to learn fuinjutsu early on in his travels, Naruto's pants were water-proof as well as fire-proof, mostly to protect from _his own_ use of fire, and he had gotten them in a larger size than he should be wearing mostly because the extra length on the leggings, when coupled with being water-proof, made it far easier for him to swim like he does, giving him something akin to 'flippers' over his feet; he still hated how people called him a 'merman' with how he swims. He couldn't help it if that particular method felt the most comfortable.

"Fucking stupid reputation...Can't take a boat across the ocean now because of it..." Naruto growled quietly to himself, just _knowing_ that he was going to get attacked by sharks, like last time, the moment he got close to the mainland. After the fiasco in Namiyoke, he had quickly become known as the Red Devil, a 'demon' that had 'ruthlessly' destroyed an entire town in his 'senseless' rampage. In truth, he had simply gotten a bit too 'fire happy' during the fight and even then, only a third of the village had actually suffered any damage. The whole 'Red Devil' thing was easily explained due to his hair and eye color and his pants, but still...did those stupid gossipers _have_ to call him an actual demon, of all things? He just knew that _that_, too, was going to come back and bite him in the ass later...

_'Stupid rumors have probably already reached the mainland by now...Geez...I hope Kira and the others are doing okay. I haven't seen them for a long time now...'_ The red head mused silently as he neared the beach, which was, ironically, the same one he had reached when he came to Water Country. Wading into the water, Naruto decided to head for Earth Country next, having heard of a pair of short swords made of bone being somewhere within its borders that sounded almost exactly like a pair of bone swords made from a dragon's fangs that his clan had owned early on in their history...

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Kira- Killer (or literal translation: Fine Clothes)

Kirara- Isinglass

Ao- Blue

Haku- White

Kuroyuri- Black Lily

Mugetsu- Moonless Sky

Yuki- Snow

Umioso- Sea Otter

Namiyoke- Sea Wall

Getsuga- Moon Fang

Suiben- Water Whip

Suiryuudan- Water Dragon Projectile

Makyo Hyousho- Demonic Crystal Ice Mirrors

A/N: For a picture of Ao's appearance, go to and look up 'Aeon Flux 2' by crayonslut. It's actually really cool in my opinion.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Dragon's Blood

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Chapter Five

"..." Naruto stared out over the water from the pier connected to Tazuna's home, left leg crossed and under his right, which hung over the ledge with his clawed toes touching the calm waters. Ever since he had caugh a whiff of Kira's scent, he couldn't stop thinking about the little group that had become like family to him, but he couldn't deny that he had secretly been crushing on his 'sisters' since he first met them. He hadn't heard much about them since that dreadful night, but it was kind of a good and bad thing. On the one hand, it meant that they were lying low well enough to hide from hunter-nin while on the other, it meant that they could already be dead. Catching Kira's scent meant that all four of them were most definitely alive; the woman wouldn't let her 'daughters' die, no matter what. Glancing up at the quarter moon, Naruto sighed and figured it was about time to track them down. Standing up and heading towards the forest, Naruto barely made it past the house before he felt another presence behind him.

"Going for a midnight stroll, Naruto?" Kakashi inquired while leaning back against the wall just around the corner of the home where he couldn't be seen from Naruto's spot on the pier, staring off into the distance. Naruto didn't respond right away, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he glanced over at the jounin, only to look back towards the forest and keep walking.

"I'll be back tomorrow. There are some old friends I have to pay a visit to." Naruto answered calmly, but Kakashi could hear the unspoken warning in his tone; _Don't follow me_. Eye smiling at his student's back, Kakashi watched as Naruto left before sighing and slouching once he was gone. Mandatory protocol required that he put Naruto's 'unauthorized absence' into the report and while he would still do it, Kakashi would speak with the Sandaime about it, knowing his student would keep his word. Besides, from the interactions he had with the Hokage pertaining to the Slayer, Kakashi suspected that the Sandaime had given them the mission, not because of Sasuke, but because of Naruto. While Naruto never said anything about it, the Sandaime had informed Kakashi about the presence of a Kiri nuke-nin being reported around Wave Country and after also being informed that Naruto had spent three years in Water Country during his travels, the jounin had no doubt that Naruto had some kind of relationship with the Succubus of the Bloody Mist. Sighing again, Kakashi went back inside for some rest, deciding to deal with it when the time came...

xXx

"Right where he said it was..." Naruto mumbled quietly under his breath, staring at the cone-like structure that was attached to the side of one of Wave Country's towering trees, a number of thick ropes reaching out to surrounding trees to help support it better. Walking up to the building, Naruto didn't bother trying to hide his presence or anything, knowing that its occupants probably already knew he was there. He was certain Kira knew already, but not so much about the others. Simply walking up the spiral walkway and knocking on the door, Naruto waited for it to be opened by none other than Kira herself, who seemed to have an air of indifference around her. They glanced over each other at the same time, both noting how neither seemed to have changed much over the years they spent apart.

"You sure did get big, brat..." Kira mumbled while Naruto snorted slightly that expelled a whisp of smoke and looked away. A moment later, he smiled faintly before they hugged one another. "It's good to see you, Naruto."

"You too, Kira." He answered softly. A moment later, they broke apart before Kira let him in, closed the door, and promptly stepped to the side...just in time for a blue foot to smash into his face.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?! WE'VE BEEN WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU!" Ao snarled angrily as she tried to hit him again, only for Naruto to grab her wrists to keep from getting hit again. A moment later, she, too, was wrapped up in a hug. Unable to hold it back any more, Ao's arms snapped around Naruto's waist and held him as tight as she could, a couple tears of happiness falling from her eyes. Looking up, he saw Haku and Kuroyuri staring at him from a short distance away. Holding an arm out and wordlessly motioning for them to come to him, Naruto gained a small, sad smile as both black haired girls rushed over to him and promptly joined in on the hug-fest. Kira simply watched from off to the side, smiling at the reunion; she was glad that that old man had kept his word. She idly wondered if he would agree to her second request, though.

"Alright, enough of that...Let me get a good look at you three." Naruto spoke up, gently pushing the three girls away from him so that he get look them over, all three stepping back to let him. Ao, now eighteen years old, was still wearing that weird wet-suit thing of hers, but she now sported a pair of guardless ninjato crossed on her back with dark blue sheathes that matched her attire while the handles were made from the same dark blue material as her clothing, only textured for grip and bearing thin lines of electric blue for decoration. Her hairstyle hadn't changed either, but she now had a couple small turqoise and white beads decorating the tips of her bangs. She obviously grew older and more womanly, now standing at about 5'6" with a full-bodied D-cup bust that was still practically uncovered due to her top, and a slender and athletic hourglass figure.

Haku, having just turned nineteen a handful of months back, had taken to wearing a pair of baggy faded light brown pants and turtleneck with a blue robe top over it that had white trim and a white sash wrapped around it to hold it closed. He knew she still had the hunter-nin mask she had taken back when they were younger, being a momento of her first kill, but it was probably hidden within the folds of her robe. She now stood at about 5'8" with, undoubtedly, a figure equal to Ao's, only her bust was noticably larger despite her baggy clothing, probably being between a DD- or an E-cup now. He noticed that she had taken to painting her nails a deep imperial blue that contrasted a bit heavily with her pale complexion, but it looked good on her. That was when his eyes turned to the other raven haired beauty...

Kuroyuri, being only a few months from her seventeenth birthday, stood at about 5'6" with a more slender and lithe hourglass figure than her 'sisters', but she was just as developed as them, despite being the youngest. The dark grey form-fitting long-sleeve turtleneck that hugged her body like a second skin did little to hide her C-cup bust and slim waist, her broad hips flaring out with baggy black hakama pants with white stitching hanging from them, the slits in the sides leaving the sides of her hips and a side portion of her upper thighs visible. Her hands were covered in black fingerless gloves while her feet and shins were sheathed in black tabbi socks and black wooden geta. Resting at her left hip were a pair of black-sheathed wakizashi with black-wrapped handles while a black-sheathed tanto rested across her lower back with the black-wrapped handle sticking out behind her right hip. Her hair was still in its old hairstyle, just like Ao's and Haku's, but her pony-tail now reached all the way down to the middle of her thighs in the back, her bangs now reaching down to frame her breasts. He idly noticed that she was also still wearing a black cloth face mask like she used to, but it had been pulled down to hang around her neck.

"I didn't think it was possible..." Naruto started in a slightly over-exaggerated amazed whisper while Kira started smirking, already knowing what was going to happen. "You three got even more beautiful than before..."

"..." On cue, all three girls blushed heavily with varying reactions. Ao grinned a bit shyly, Haku turned her gaze down to the ground sheepishly, and Kuroyuri simply glanced to the side out of embarrassment without an actual change in her facial expression. Naruto hadn't changed much either; while they knew he was just teasing them a little since he used to tease them about being 'cute' back when they were still traveling together, but they also knew that he was being honest and now was no different. Kira opened her mouth to interrupt, but she quickly stopped when she got a brief glance from Naruto and a slight snort of black smoke that spoke volumes of the impending doom that would befall her clothes. Blushing slightly behind the bandages covering her face, Kira glared at him half-heartedly, both glad and irked that he hadn't changed since they had last seen him. Kira, wanting to catch up with her son first, quickly shooed the girls away, promising to let them spend time with him later. Looking to the woman that had become a mother-figure to him, Naruto simply yawned and followed after her as she led him to her room, where she pulled out a jug of sake that she kept stashed and hidden from her adopted daughters; they had gotten into the habit of keeping her from drinking.

"They've really missed you, brat. I can't tell you how many times I've had to cheer them up whenever they started thinking about you." Kira explained as they sat down on opposing cushions that were set around a small, low-standing table. Setting a couple ochoko down on the table between them, she poured herself some of the drink before letting Naruto do the same for himself. Taking a sip, she continued with what she was saying, her expression and tone growing more somber. "Back in Namiyoke, we all thought that you were dead, Naruto. It wasn't until almost two months after that night when we started hearing rumors about someone called the 'Red Devil' and eventually found out that it was you. Those three had been so happy to hear that you were still alive, but they also became depressed when they realize that you had never tried to find us. Why was that?"

"...I had business to take care of, Kira. I'm sorry for not trying to get in contact with you, but I figured it was safer _not_ to. I knew you were all still in Water Country, like I was, but I didn't want to risk the hunter-nin finding you. So, instead, while I was in Water Country still, I used a few clones and disguised them as you and the others, wanting to throw them off your trail for at least a little while." Naruto admitted before taking a sip of his own sake. Hearing his reasoning for not looking for them, Kiri couldn't doubt him and couldn't hide her surprise, suddenly realizing that the brief time she and the girls hadn't been tracked down by hunter-nin had been because of Naruto. Before she could thank him or show her gratitude, Naruto continued. "I apologize for not telling you back then, but I had gone to Water Country in search of certain...heirlooms...that once belonged to my clan and had been scattered across the continents in various ways, mostly by thieves, grave robbers, and tomb raiders. One of those heirlooms is the necklace I'm wearing; the same one I found in the warehouse back in Namiyoke."

"I understand the sentimental and financial value of heirlooms, but what made them so important that you had to keep it a secret from us?" Kira inquired, honestly confused and a bit offended. Naruto sighed and downed the rest of the sake in his cup before pouring some more into it.

"It's because they are more than just a part of my clan's history and heritage. They are items of power, each one capable of granting a different ability." Naruto answered, surprising Kira once more. "My necklace? It's called the Ryuketsujyu no Tane and despite the name, it makes the wearer pretty much invulnerable to fire and, if they're an Uzumaki that has awakened our bloodline, grants them an even hotter and more powerful flame breath. To clarify, I am not just an Uzumaki; I'm what's called a Slayer, an Uzumaki whose Kirinketsu, our bloodline, has activated. My bracers and greaves? They are called the Doryuu no Uroko and enhance the strength of the wearer's Earth affinity along with increasing their base strength by roughly half while also giving them a passive ability that makes their skin denser, making it harder to cut them. That's only two of them and they're not even the strongest of the Uzumaki clan's relics. Now do you understand their importance, Kira?"

"Yeah...I've heard of weapons and armors having certain abilities not too different, but...it's still a bit surprising to have them actually in front of me, you know?" She responded with a bit of awe in her voice, her eyes staring at the seemingly harmless gem hanging from Naruto's necklace. Personally, she never cared for such things, finding her Kubikiri Houcho to be more than enough for her, but she knew that they were much rarer than people believed and were incredibly hard to find and for her son to have _at least_ two of such items was a bit over-whelming. He must have worked very hard just to _find_ them, let alone retrieve them. Seeing her reaction, Naruto decided to drop another bomb on her, but mostly out of personal entertainment.

"Even the Seven Swords of the Mist are, technically, Uzumaki heirlooms." Naruto suddenly informed his mother-figure, timing it just right as she took a sip of her sake. She nearly spit the alchohol out in her shock, only making Naruto smirk. "Did you know that Kubikiri Houcho was originally designed for beheading dragons?"

"Wh-What?! You can't be serious!" Kira exclaimed, having never heard of that and she had researched the history of her sword in the past; then again, no one knew the origins of the seven blades. Well, technically _eight_ since the Kiba swords came in a pair. Naruto's smirk didn't change and he didn't say a word while sipping at his sake. Realizing that he was, indeed, telling the truth, Kira could only stare at her sword, which was propped against the wall off to the side of the room. Looking back to Naruto, she had a bit of a hesitant and cautious look. "You...You're not going to take it...are you?"

"No. She's in good hands as is, so it'd be a crime for me to take her from you." Naruto answered and causing Kira to sigh in relief. Before she could ask him as to why he referred to her sword as a female, Naruto spoke up again, looking a little uncertain about something.

"..." Kira sighed with relief at not losing her sword as she brought her cup to her lips to take a drink, only to pause when she spotted the pensive look on Naruto's face. "What's with the face? You having girl trouble or something?"

"Well, uh...Not really...I'm in a relationship with someone back in Konoha. We just started...seeing each other...recently and I don't want to screw things up with her, you know?" Naruto mumbled before drinking the rest of his sake, staring down at the table in thought afterwards. Kiri stayed silent, curious about the woman that had apparently stolen the boy's heart. She had actually been joking when she said 'girl trouble', but it just went to show how well she still knew her 'son'. It was a couple minutes before Naruto spoke up again. "She had a hard life, like I did, but not as bad. She hasn't exactly told me about her past, but I know from how she acts that she was betrayed by someone she looked up to and respected. I just...I guess you can say I have issues when it comes to emotions, you know? I made a wakizashi and tanto for her and she loves them, but...I haven't given them to her yet and I don't know how...Do you have any ideas?"

"...You really love this woman, don't you?" Kira asked softly with a studying gaze, quickly taking note of the small, almost unnoticable smile that formed on his face as he continued to stare at the table. Sighing softly, Kira nodded. "Just be yourself, brat. That's all I can say. I'm not exactly a 'relationship expert' either, you know?"

"Yeah, you got a point there." Naruto responded with a slight smirk as he raised his cup of sake. "Here's to hoping your advice doesn't screw things up for me."

"You're a pain in the ass, you know that?" Kira grumbled quietly, but they both still drained their cups and shared a brief laugh after a few moments, only to fall into a semi-comfortable silence. After a few minutes, however, Kira decided to let him go so that the girls didn't have to wait any longer to catch up with him. "Get out of here, brat. They're undoubtedly impatient to catch up after almost four years. Just...don't do anything I wouldn't do, got it?"

"Really, Kira? There isn't much that you wouldn't do. Besides, you're a lesbian and they're all females. Are you sure you want to be telling me that?" Naruto retorted tauntingly, making Kira's face burn a fierce crimson as she glared at him from her spot across the table. Laughing at her reaction, Naruto quickly vacated her room before she could retaliate with either a come-back or a fist, which was more likely at the moment, even though what he said was true. Heading back out into the living room, he found all three 'sisters' sitting on the couch, waiting expectantly to spend time with him. Snorting slightly while a smirk, Naruto made his way into the room and sat down on the couch across from them. "...Alright...Since we're undoubtedly going to be playing 'Twenty Questions' all night, I'll get us started. Have you told her how you feel about her yet, Haku?"

Ao laughed at the question and Kuroyuri looked a bit confused while Haku blushed heavily out of embarrassment and looked straight down, suddenly finding the hem of her robe top rather interesting...

xXx

Having never been a morning person, Kira had a scowl on her face as she went to the small kitchen the safehouse had and started making coffee. Catching a blurred rainbow of colors out of the corner of her eye, she glanced into the living room and almost instantly, two things flew through her head; one, she wished she had a camera and two, the rather cute sight just made her morning a little more bearable. At some point last night, Naruto and the girls had ended up falling asleep on the couch with Naruto sitting up and situated in the middle of the couch. Ao and Haku were lying down on his right and cuddling in their sleep while using Naruto's leg as a pillow while Kuroyuri was sitting beside him on his left side with her back to him, curled up slightly and holding his left arm to her chest as she slept just as peacefully as her 'siblings'.

"Hm..." Shaking her head with a slight snort of amusement and a small smile, Kira went back into the kitchen to wait for her coffee to finish brewing. It would be at least another hour before sun rise, so she figured she could let Naruto sleep a little longer before he had to leave. That was when she groaned pitifully, realizing something; life had been quiet and peaceful for them while he was gone. Now, it was just going to get noisy and chaotic all over again...

"I swear, if the brat burns my clothes off one more time..." Kira growled out under her breath before trailing off at the end. Pouring herself a cup of coffee when it was done, Kira went outside for her daily ritual of watching the sun rise from just outside the front door. Sitting down and getting comfortable while leaning back against the wall, she took a sip of the dark liquid and set her mug down. Still groggy with sleep, she noticed something off to the side and slowly turned her head to look at it. Although not fully awake, she was surprised to find a rather famous silver haired jounin of Konoha sitting on the opposite side of the small flat platform between the door and the spiral ramp that led up to it. The one eyed man was busy reading a rather familiar orange book, an issue Kira had yet to come across...

It was the new Icha Icha Paradise Volume 4: Yuri Edition...

"The Sandaime sends his regards." Kakashi spoke up calmly and lazily as he passed a scroll over to Kira without looking up from his book, the scroll being a slightly faded red with forest green bands around the ends and the kanji for Fire in black in the middle. Tiredly taking the scroll from him, Kira watched as 'Copy Cat Kakashi' yawned tiredly before standing up and starting to walk away, grumbling under his breath about it being 'too damn early in the morning' or something like that. Smirking slightly in amusement, Kira grabbed her mug and took another sip of her coffee. Knowing she couldn't delay reading it any longer, the Succubus of the Mist unfurled the scroll and started glancing through its contents. After a couple minutes, Kira could only sigh heavily and roll it back up. She then smiled and looked up at the horizon just as the sun started to appear, the first rays of dawn peeking out from the skyline.

"That old man must really like the kid to do all this..." She whispered to herself, stuffing the scroll down her shirt between her breasts for 'safe keeping' before picking up her coffee again...

xXx

"Mmm..." Slowly waking up without opening her eyes, Anko stretched slightly from under the wolf-fur covers without sitting up in bed. Opening her eyes and staring at the emptiness of the bed she had woken up to every morning since Naruto left for his mission, Anko was starting to understand what it must have felt like for Naruto whenever he woke up and expected to have her in his arms because now she was left deprived of his warmth and the feeling of safety that came with being in his arms. A small smile decorated her lips as she thought about that. Although they had known each other for about a month, they had actually only spent a few days around one another. Their last night together had been her favorite so far. They had spent most of that evening simply talking to each other and getting to know one another. She had eventually fallen asleep in his arms while listening to his heart beat that night, the towering young man having fallen asleep not long before her. She also loved his cooking...

_'For such a bad-tempered, foul-mouthed guy with dragon's blood in his veins living out in the middle of nowhere for most of his life, he sure can cook.'_ Anko mused to herself with a thoughtful look while staring up at the ceiling, recalling the delicious meal he had cooked for dinner the night before he left; it had been a mixture of venison and hog meat that had been cooked over a fire, chopped up, and mixed together with some chopped up and fire roasted green bell peppers and onions. He had only used a little salt, pepper, and a couple other things for seasonings with some kind of home-recipe sweet and sour sauce poured over it all, but it had been so good, just the thought of it was making her drool, craving more of it. Turning her head to the side, she saw his dresser and a number of little odds and ends that he had made over time, bringing another thoughtful look to her face that was crossed with admiration. _'And he's good with his hands...in more ways than one, that's for damn sure.'_

"I wish I could just stay in this bed all day..." Anko mumbled quietly to herself in complaint, rubbing her cheek against a white wolf-fur pillow that was clutched to her bare chest. Smiling sleepily as she nuzzled the pillow, Anko slowly started drifting back to sleep, only to suddenly force herself to stay awake. Getting up, Anko, clad in only her panties, yawned as she paused half-way to the bathroom for a shower and stretched, arching her back. "Damn it, I need to wake up...But it's so damn _chilly_ in here!"

Following the loud whine, Anko had promptly dove back under the covers, pouting childishly...

"I knew I should have just stayed at my place until he got back..." Anko mumbled into the pillow she was squeezing against her chest, still pouting childishly. "At least I wouldn't have to fight myself just to get out of bed every morning..."

xXx

"Oi...Wake up, brat!" Kira growled out while shoving Naruto's knee with her foot. Letting out a deep and low-toned growl as some smoke oozed out of his nostrils, Naruto slowly cracked an eye open and glared up at Kira, who was now fully awake. "I need to talk to you about something important, so get up and come outside. And try not to wake the girls."

"..." Having been about to argue with the woman that woke him up as she left the room, Naruto paused at the mention of the girls and looked down, finding all three sleeping around him. Knowing he wouldn't be able to actually move from his spot without disturbing any of them, Naruto manipulated the chakra in his body before a Kage Bunshin popped into existence in front of him, only to switch places with it via Kawarimi. Yawning as he stretched slightly and caused several of his joints to pop, Naruto left the three young women in the care of his Shadow Clone while he went outside to deal with Kira. "Alright, what's so fucking important that it couldn't wait until later?"

"Watch the language, brat." Kira warned with a glare, but Naruto simply returned her gaze and growled. Knowing the brat was simply too stubborn to do anything he didn't want to and already irritated about having to get up earlier than he wanted, Kira didn't bother arguing about it any more. Reaching into her top, Kira pulled out the scroll that had been given to her. Instantly recognizing it as an official letter from the Hokage, Naruto's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Kira sighed, knowing things were going to get a bit complicated, if Naruto's look was anything to go by. "Before you start assuming anything, I've been in contact with your Sandaime Hokage for almost three months. It took a bit of time, but I managed to figure out where you were from and I started...planning, I guess you could say. Because of that, I got in contact with your Hokage and we started talking quite a bit. I believe he mentioned something about you being the last of your clan in one of his letters..."

"Oh, no... No, you didn't." Naruto responded, realization flashing through his eyes. Seeing a lack of change in Kira's facial expression, Naruto growled under his breath, glaring at her. When she slowly looked back towards the hideout that was only a couple hundred feet away, Kira sighed softly with a solemn look in her eyes. He calmed down a little when he saw that. He saw two things in her eyes that he had never seen in them before; guilt and regret.

"I don't want them to live the rest of their lives like this, Naruto; always running, never being able to just settle down somewhere and live a normal life." Kira explained softly while still staring at the building. "Just so you know, I didn't set up any arranged marriages or anything; I can't. I'm not a legal ninja nor am I their real mother. I can't even legally adopt them because of my missing-nin status. I just want to give them a chance at living a normal, happy life without having to keep looking over their shoulders every few minutes, thinking about the hunter-nin chasing them down all the time. Do you understand?"

"...Yeah." Naruto muttered quietly before slowly unrolling the scroll and looking through its contents. From the looks of things, the girls were simply going to be placed under the protection of the Uzumaki clan, should he officially agree to it, and would have to serve out a sentence of two months house arrest and another three months of probation before they could either join as a Konoha ninja or start their life over as a civilian. However, he noticed something peculiar about one of them. "Kira...What's this about Kuroyuri?"

"...Back in Namiyoke, after the warehouse blew up, Kuroyuri...She flew into a rage when one of the hunter-nin made an insulting comment, in his own words, about you stupidly throwing your life away for people that were still going to die. She killed _seven _chuunin-level hunter-nin that night, Naruto. All within the time span of a single minute, at that." Kira explained while looking back at Naruto, who refrained from whistling with amazement since Kuroyuri had only been about low- to mid-chuunin level at the time. "After we escaped, Kuroyuri had gone into a depressive state that lasted just over a month; she wouldn't speak, she would barely eat, and what little sleep she got was spent filled with nightmares. We can only assume they were about that night since she still refuses to talk about them. She may seem fine on the outside, Naruto, but she's pretty messed up on the inside. That's why the Sandaime agreed to make Kuroyuri a vassal of the sole surviving Uzumaki heir, you, but only if she agrees to it as well."

"...Does it have anything to do with her calling me 'Naruto-sama'?" Naruto inquired, getting an odd look between surprise and recognition from Kira. "It slipped out while we were talking last night, but I didn't think anything of it until now."

"Yes, it does. When she attacked the hunter-nin that night, she had started calling you 'Naruto-sama' as easily as I call you brat. I can only assume that something clicked in her head that registered you as either her Master or her superior. It's another reason why I decided to do this for her." Kira remarked, leading Naruto over to a nearby boulder that sat at the edge of a small lake not too far from the house. "I know it's a lot to ask, but...can you do this for me, Naruto? You're the only person I trust to take care of them."

"...I'm not too happy about it, but yeah, I'll do it." Naruto mumbled while resting his elbows on his knees, sighing heavily. A moment later, Kira pulled out another scroll from between her breasts and handed it to him. It was a deep blue with grey bands on the ends, left unmarked. Gently taking it, Naruto glanced up at Kira questioningly. "What's this for?"

"It has five storage seals inside of it and inside each of those seals is a scroll. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out which one goes to who, but...Promise me that you won't hand them over until after I..." Kira trailed off, suddenly not wanting to go through with her plan, but it was the only way. In her eyes, at least. Fighting back a couple tears, Kira looked away to keep her son from seeing them. "Don't hand them over until after I leave. Okay?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Kira?!" Naruto snarled, suddenly very confused. He actually flinched back for once when Kira spun around, glaring at him with tears in her eyes. "...K-Kira?"

"You know just as much as I do that I can't go with them!" Kira snapped before furiously trying to dry her eyes and reign in her emotions; it was actually one of the rare few times she had ever let her true emotions be known by another. Failing, Kira simply gave up and let them fall, sitting on the boulder with her knees drawn up to her chest and arms wrapped around them. "I can't go with you or the girls and I've known that since the beginning. It hurts to say it, but it's true. There's nothing I can do to change my status, Naruto. I can't join another Hidden Village, I can't go back to Kiri, I'm not going to give up and let some punk kill me...I'm _stuck_ with this lifestyle until the day I die. _They aren't_. _They_ have a chance to live a better life than this."

"..." Naruto didn't say anything as silence reigned for several long minutes. After Kira finally got herself back under control, Naruto glanced down at the blue and grey scroll Kira had given him. "...When do you plan on leaving?"

"...Tonight. After the girls fall asleep." She responded as she knelt down beside the edge of the water, unraveling the bandages of her face mask and washing her face with some of the cool waters. Silence reigned once more as Kira continued to clean herself up before covering her face with her wrappings once more.

"I'll make sure I'm here when you leave so I can run damage control in the morning, but...Haku's not going to take it very well. You know that, right?" Naruto remarked after a little while. "She loves you. More than as just her mother, too...She'll try to follow you."

"She...She what?" Kira stammered slightly, shocked to hear something like that about one of the girls she had been taking care of for almost a decade. For Haku, it was more accurate, having found her first when the girl was only eleven. "You mean she..."

"Yeah. She told me back when we were still a group that she had a crush on you. I didn't really know what to tell her back then, being inexperienced with emotions, but since I met Anko, I've been noticing things I never cared to understand in the past." Naruto explained, leaning back and lying on top of the boulder. "One of which is Love. I know I'm not the authority figure on it, but I can spot it. Haku _loves_ you, Kira. Almost quite literally, you are everything to her. Didn't you ever wonder why she always called you 'Kira-sama' instead of 'Okaa-sama' like Kuroyuri or 'Kaa-chan' like Ao? It's not like she's been keeping it much of a secret, either. Ao figured it out a couple years ago apparently, but we kind of had to spell it out for Kuroyuri last night. The poor girl is almost as bad as me when it comes to emotions..."

"..." Kira stayed quiet, however. Sighing, Naruto stood back up and started heading back to the house.

"Come on. I'm about to start cooking breakfast for everyone." Naruto called back over his shoulder, snapping Kira out of her thoughts.

"Wait...You can cook?" She questioned with a look of surprise on her face, only getting a laugh from Naruto as he kept walking...

xXx

"..." Kakashi kept his nose buried in his book while 'supervising' Sasuke and Hinata as they worked on the Tree Walking excercise. Tazuna wasn't working today, so he didn't have to worry about guard duty, either. Feeling another presence come up from behind and stand beside him, Kakashi didn't bother acknowledging their presence; until they held a scroll out to him. "Ah, so she told you what was going on?"

"Yeah...and while I'm not happy about it, I can't do anything about it." Naruto responded as the jounin took the scroll before finally noticing what his team mates were doing. "Wait, you're _just now_ starting them on this?"

"Hm? What do you mean?" Kakashi inquired, finally looking up from his book and at Naruto. He was instantly rewarded with a cloud of smog as Naruto snorted with displeasure.

"They should have been taught this a long time ago, Kakashi." Naruto growled out with a glare. "Fuck your bullshit 'team training' excercises. If they can't defend themselves than team work won't do shit for them. You need to start taking their training far more seriously than you are now, Kakashi. If you don't, _I_ will and you won't like what I'll do. I can gaurantee that."

"...Are you threatening me, Uzumaki?" Kakashi asked quietly and coldly, looking at Naruto out of the corner of his narrowed eye. Naruto simply gave the man a dark glare that unsettled the jounin just as much as he had back when they left the village. "Besides, you're a _genin_. What would you know of how to properly train a shinobi?"

"You forget who I am, Kakashi. I've been training myself for the past ten years since I left Konoha and I've fought a great many shinobi of various ranks and skill level. While I may not be as skilled as you in some areas, I more than make up for it with hard-earned combat experience." Naruto responded sharply, baring his fangs slightly in a minor snarl that seemed to make something in Kakashi's head click. "Not only that, but if they were under my instruction, I'd have them set straight and capable of fighting a mid-level chuunin to a stand-still in only six months. They might not win, but they'll damn sure put up a good fight."

"I highly doubt that..." Kakashi muttered before ignoring the now pissed off Slayer as he started reading his book again. Smoke billowing out from the corners of his mouth and nose, Naruto was finding it increasingly difficult to restrain himself from incinerating the jounin in front of him. The jounin in question suddenly found it very difficult to breathe while Sasuke and Hinata were instantly floored, unable to move and barely capable of breathing enough to keep them alive. Slowly turning his head to look at Naruto, Kakashi was shocked to find that his eyes had turned a menacing yellow, neither one taking notice of four diagonal red slits forming in the white circle in the middle of Naruto's chest. Each one was spreading out from the center without actually touching, each slit being thin and oval-shaped with pointed ends. As Naruto slowly managed to reign in his killing intent and suppress his instincts, a red dot formed in the very center while four more slits formed in the spaces between the others, forming an array of eight slits around the dot.

"I'm warning you, Hatake...Do. _Not_. Push. Your. Luck." Naruto snarled fiercely before turning and slowly walking away, heading deeper into the forest. Left gasping for breath, Kakashi leaned back against the tree behind him. He hadn't even felt killing intent like that from the Kyuubi no Kitsune on the night it attacked Konoha, but that was probably because he had just been at ground zero a moment ago. Glancing over at his two other students, Kakashi saw that they had both passed out from the intense murderous aura Naruto had suddenly unleashed. The jounin now knew why he never felt killing intent from his red haired student and it honestly scared him a little bit.

Naruto hadn't actually been fighting seriously before. Now, Naruto apparently wanted nothing more than to rip Kakashi apart with his bare hands, if the visions Kakashi had seen of his own death were anything to go by...

After going several miles into the forest not long after leaving Kakashi and his team, Naruto was struggling to stay on his feet, his teeth gnashed with effort as he leaned against a tree. Somehow, when he had almost lost control of his temper, he had triggered the transformation process from the beginner Awakened Stage and the Ascended Stage. Forcing a bit of a smirk on his face, Naruto was honestly a bit irritated about it since it was _late_. He had been supposed to transform at fifteen, which had been the general time he would have completed his training in the Awakened Stage, but his constant traveling and efforts to find his clan's relics had cut into that time quite a bit. Now that it was happening, he could proceed to the next level...

"Ngh...Shit...This is hurting...a _hell_ of a lot more...than Kaa-chan...said it would..." Naruto bit back an exclamation of pain as his back burned forebodingly. Slowly raising his free left hand over his head while channeling a large amount of Earth chakra into the appendage, Naruto swiftly brought it down on the ground as he knelt down. Instantly, the earth shot up all around him, forming a surprisingly smooth sphere of compact dirt and rocks while destroying everything around it, but layer after layer kept forming over it until it went from just being about ten feet in diameter to being well over fifty feet in diameter. It was a precautionary move, something developed by past Slayers to keep things _in_ instead of keeping things _out_ like most other defensive techniques. The transformation process, as experienced by those same past Slayers, could be quite unpredictable and insanely destructive at times...

A few minutes of nothing passed before the dirt and rocks suddenly started heating up to the point it was all becoming molten lava, but the elemental barrier maintained itself before suddenly starting to cool and harden as the moisture in the air was drawn in towards the sphere of intensely burning slag. Steam hissed out as the lava slowly started changing into pitch black volcanic rock, countless cracks forming all across its surface as the red-orange glow of magma dimly shined through the narrow crevices...

xXx

"So, that bitch thinks she can just get away with not doing what I hired her for? Che...Now I don't feel so bad about hiring more ninja." Gatou grumbled in complaint as he sat behind his desk, turning to look at the three rogue shinobi he had hired after hearing about the deaths of the Demon Brothers and Tazuna's safe return back to his home. He also knew that the bitch he hired, Momochi Kira, hadn't even _attempted_ to kill the pesky bridge builder. "Let's just hope you prove more capable than the bitch and her band of whores."

"Don't you worry about that, Gatou-san." The middle shinobi reassured with a wide, cheeky grin reminiscent of a monkey's. "We'll take of your little problem. Just make sure you have our payment ready or _you_ will become a little problem as well."

"Hmph. Fine, fine. Just make sure that pest doesn't finish his little bridge." Gatou retorted, not bothered by the thinly veiled threat in the least. "So, when are you going to attack?"

"In two days. We haven't had time to rest for the past week and we need time to recover some of our strength. After that, they'll be as good as dead, we'll have our money, and you'll have nothing to worry about." The middle shinobi, the leader of the three, grinned again, but it was more menacing than the last one. He had heard the Red Devil was in the area and he wanted to pay him back for what that red headed bastard had done to him in the past...

xXx

"Grrr...Fucking stupid ball of rock..." Naruto growled under his breath, his body still wreathed in smoke as he finished clawing his way out of the elemental barrier technique, Nemurushishi no Kakurega. It was still pretty ingenious, though. Glancing up at the sky through the thick black smoke around him, Naruto figured that he had been trapped in the technique for the past nine or ten hours seeing as it was still early into the night, or so he believed. Not surprising. The transformation process, whil relatively short and taking only about an hour or two, actually made the Slayer temporarily weaker while pumping them full of adrenaline, balancing out their general strength for the most part, even as said strength was being increased by the advancement of their bloodline. The adrenaline, however, made them incredibly instinctual and had unholy mood swings that resulted in them going from a rampaging demon to the gentlest giant in the world and back to a rampaging demon in the time span of only a few seconds between shifts in their mood. The purpose of the technique was two-fold; one part was to keep the Slayer contained along with their power to protect the surrounding area and people while the second part was a bit more tricky, but ingenious nonetheless.

After the transformation was complete, there was still no way to actually release the Nemurushishi no Kakurega technique, leaving only one option; find a way out. Since his chakra control was messed up by the power boost, Naruto had started to simply dig his way out, carving a rather decently sized hole in the side of the shell of incredibly tough igneous rock. Because of that, his previously weakened state was a bit greater, but he would come out stronger than before in the end. Unfortunately, the Ascended Stage only granted a fifty percent increase to the Slayer's physical strength and only boosted their elemental strength by a third of what it was prior to the transformation. However, Naruto felt content with that and his own changes...

"Hmph...I didn't think I'd actually like having a tail. Guess I was wrong..." Naruto mumbled to himself as he made his way out of the smoke. Due to his more potent blood, Naruto had undergone a couple extra changes than he had originally predicted. Covering the top and back of his shoulders were rigid dark crimson scales that also ran along his spine, which then went on to cover his tail. Its length was roughly equal to his height and actually rather muscular with a series of heavier over-lapping scales at the end that formed something akin to a club along the last five or six inches of his tail. After few minutes of experiementing with it, he had discovered the scales could 'flare out', in a way, to reveal a multitude of hidden needle-like red spines that became sharp and dense as steel when chakra was channeled into them while also being as soft and harmless as fur. Although he wanted to figure out to use them, Naruto figured he would do that later. The final touch to his tail, however, was a thick and, regretably, fluffy ring of crimson fur that encircled his tail just below the clubbed tip.

More of the tough dark red scales had formed around the base of his neck, on his knuckles, and on his elbows. He had also gained some horns, but not in the same sense he had first thought; they were more like four short protrusions of bone that stuck out of his forehead along his hairline with two on either side with each one being solid black and about two to three inches long. They were swept-back slightly and were tilted off to either side a little bit as well. Another strange feature he had gained was a different...skin complexion. His was tattooed and bronze skin was actually now one solid shade, which just so happened to be a shade or two redder than what would be considered normal. He was also pleased to find out that his fingers were partially webbed up to the first knuckle of each digit, his thumb included, and all of his claws were slightly denser and sharper, being more like talons in appearance now, but he had discovered that they were actually retractable so that they were no longer than normal finger nails; still sharp, but not as long. Even his toes were webbed, which would make swimming easier, meaning he would be able to shorten the leggings of his pants.

"Geez...I got to get going. Kira will be leaving soon..." Naruto thought outloud before getting his bearings and heading off in the proper direction. Unconsciously, Naruto had taken to simply running, his feet having become slightly deformed to the point his heels never touched the ground anymore and with his tail to counter-balance him, his previously restricted land speed capabilities were greater, letting him run faster than before while his balance increased several-fold from what it used to be. Idly noticing it as he ran, Naruto mentally shrugged, finding the mode of mobility to be more comfortable and..._natural_...than jumping through tree limbs was for him, even before his transformation. Normally, he would try to figure out just how fast he could run now, having always been a bit slow due to his bulkier size, but he didn't want to push himself too hard at the moment. He still had tomorrow and the days after it to experiment with his new physique; if the girls would allow him to.

_'Screw it!'_ Naruto thought with a grin, leaning his body forward a little more and pushed himself to run faster. Instinctually, he tucked his arms in closer to his body while leaning forward more, his speed almost doubling within seconds. If he had to guess, Naruto figured his speed had gone up from low-chuunin to at least high-chuunin, if not low-jounin, but he doubted it would be much of a difference in a fight since he was pretty much just running in a straight line at the moment...Or he _was_ as his right pant leg suddenly slid down in front of his foot, his claws catching on the fabric and tripping him up. Eyes going wide, Naruto suddenly fell forward and hit the ground, sliding along the soft soil and leaving a shallow 'trench' from his impact. Growling under his breath as smoke oozed out of his nostrils from pure embarrassment and irritation, Naruto was _so_ glad no one had been around to see him mess up like that. He had gotten rid of his clutziness back when he was traveling with Kira and now...it was back. "Damn stupid transformation..."

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Ochoko- Small Cylindrical Cups Used When Drinking Sake

Ryuketsujyu no Tane- Seed of the Dragon Tree

Doryuu no Uroko- Scales of the Earth Dragon

Nemurushishi no Kakurega- Lair of the Sleeping Beast

A/N: And chapter five is done! While I didn't get to address anything about his interactions with his team, specifically his dislike of Sasuke and any attempts of his to 'fix' Hinata's confidence, but I still feel pleased with myself about this chapter. Yeah, Kira was pretty emotional, but that's because she was behaving more like a mother at that point and not as the 'killer' she gained her nickname from. Also remember, she's not on the battlefield either, so she isn't going to be trying to hide her emotions as much nor is she going to worry so much about keeping up a tough-act. As for the part with Anko, well...I needed something to fill up a bit of space and I didn't want to leave her out of the story. Besides, I kind of liked writing that particular part; I found it a bit funny and helped brighten up the mood concerning Naruto's and Anko's emotional states, I guess. At least, I _hope_ it does...

Anyways! I noticed that Fanfic won't let me put the name of the site in my story for Ao's appearance, so I came up with a little something to entertain you and get the name out in one go. However, I warn you now, I was hyped up on two cans of Nos, hadn't slept in three days, and I was really, _really_ bored. Just to let you know, it is a bad thing when I get bored because I start doing stupid things just to entertain myself...

Okay, here's the 'puzzle'; Simply take the number and exchange it with the corresponding letter of the alphabet. As an example, 1 is A, 2 is B, 3 is C, and so on and so forth. Now, here's the numbers (and yes, the dot is part of it):

4-5-22-9-1-14-20-1-18-20.3-15-13

Have fun and I hope you figure it out! Remember, the pic to look up is 'Aeon Flux 2' by the artist 'crayonslut'.

P.S. If you're too lazy to solve the 'puzzle', just ask me in a PM or something...I won't blame you because even _I_ don't want to solve it and I'm the one that 'made' it...

-Winterfang


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Dragon's Blood

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Chapter Six

"Grrrr..." Naruto was in a foul mood. On the way to the hideout Kira and the others were living in, he had tripped and fallen a total of seven times before he finally got tired of tripping over his pants and ripped off the last few inches of his pants, making them end at his ankles now. As he remembered why he was coming back to the hideout, however, Naruto's anger slowly dwindled and he couldn't help sighing. Reaching the door, Naruto didn't bother knocking and walked right in. Reaching back to pull his bone swords out from his belt, Naruto noticed something...they were both gone. Groaning quietly to himself, Naruto realized that they must have broken apart or melted while he was transforming, having never put one of his fire-proofing seals on either sword since they had been made from a dragon's fangs. "Damn antiques always breaking...Shit, now I have to make myself another pair of swords..."

"And what's so wrong with that? I saw the quality of the swords you made for Kuroyuri and gave her last night." Kira spoke up from just ahead, leaning against the wall casually with a personal bottle of sake in her hand. "They were beautiful. To think, you went from being an inept self-taught novice to being one of the best bladesmiths I've come across in my life and its only been about five years since I last saw any of your works. Impressive."

"You're being too nice...You're drunk, aren't you?" Naruto muttered suspiciously before sighing as he walked over to her. Taking the bottle from her hand despite her protests, Naruto took a sip and rolled his eyes; it was easily more potent than what he and Kira had shared the night before. He then fixed her with a stare that made Kira freeze in place and suddenly look down at the ground like a scolded child. "Really, Kira? And with what you're planning on doing, too?"

"That's _exactly_ why I'm drinking...I wouldn't be able to handle it while I'm sober..." Kira mumbled, making Naruto sigh again. She was actually a bit surprised when he handed the sake back to her.

"Where are they?" Naruto inquired, idly wondering when Kira would notice his changes, but he figured it would take her a few minutes due to her now obvious inebriation. Just as Kira opened her mouth to answer...

"Damn it, Ao! Some of us would like to take a shower before bed, too!" Haku yelled from down the hall. Kira immediately pointed a finger in the direction the yelling came from without saying a word all while taking another drink of her sake. Naruto could only sigh, wondering if it had been a good thing to give Kira her alchohol back. That was when Haku walked back down the hall towards her bedroom at the opposite end, only to notice Naruto and Kira. Pausing, she looked at Naruto with a confused look. "Otouto?"

"Who else would it be? I couldn't have changed _that_ much." Naruto grumbled in complaint while Haku walked over to him and looked him over, noticing something he hadn't before.

"Your ears are longer than they used to be. You know that right?" Haku inquired, making Naruto's hands fly up to his ears and feel them. Of all the things to change, his damn ears got longer?! Moving to a nearby mirror set on the wall, Naruto examined his ears and then his face, noticing a few more features he had missed. Like Haku said, his ears were almost a full inch longer and slightly narrower than they used to be, but they had a layer of thin and primarily decorative looking dark red scales covering the back of them and along the top edge. In addition to his pointed ears getting longer, Naruto noticed that his cheeks, which had once sported his tattoos like the rest of his body, were now decorated with three slender and stretched triangles of similar scales that ran across either cheek to his jaw line, where the scales ended, with each one being roughly the width of one of his fingers. Thankfully, his eyes were still the same colors of red and black, but his fangs had gotten slightly longer and sharper. Once again, he was glad to discover that the rest of his teeth hadn't changed; they were already a nuisance every once in a while.

_'I'm going to have to be a bit more careful with biting Anko now, whether she likes it or not.'_ Naruto mused idly, recalling how Anko _really_ liked it whenever he bit her. Their last night spent together had resulted in him pricking her with one of his fangs and drawing a couple drops of blood by accident, but instead of freaking out or being in pain or anything, Anko had admitted to having felt something 'really weird', in her words, when it happened. Tacking on yet another thing to do when he got free time, Naruto decided to look into anything...unusual...about Slayers when it comes to them and their mates, like some kind of 'mating mark' or some kind of 'bite' that affected others on a different level than just inflicting pain and injury. If so, he wanted to know everything about it before he ended up giving one to Anko, whether on accident or on purpose.

His mind suddenly went blank, however, when he felt a hand touching the fur on his tail. Bracing a hand against the wall, Naruto suddenly started relaxing against his will as his eyes started closing out of a sudden wave of drowsy contentment before he forced himself to snap out of it. Yanking his tail out of Haku's hands, Naruto glared at her heatedly, his scaled cheeks burning with a deep blush as he growled quietly at her.

"Don't. Touch." Naruto stated firmly, getting a sheepish smile and a slight blush from Haku, who had been petting the slight amount of fur on his tail.

"S-Sorry. I was just curious about it and it looked so soft...I couldn't help it." Haku apologized, making Naruto huff and let his tail go, which he found surprisingly easy to control compared to when he was first trying to get out of the dome of igneous rock he had inadvertantly formed around himself. He still couldn't believe how tough that rock was; his claws could shred metal, but they could barely do anything to the rock. Must have been a side effect of his Fire and Earth affinities passively enhancing the technique's durability while he was transforming.

"Naruto-nii?" Ao questioned as she came around the corner while still drying her hair and dressed in a pair of black short-shorts that showed off her long legs and hinting at her firm rear while a baby blue tank top that looked a bit small on her 'covered' her upper body, the low-cut collar dipping down to reveal a great deal of her cleavage while the hem cut off just above her belly-button, leaving her toned and flat stomach exposed. Then she saw it. Her eyes went wide and she flinched back slightly when Naruto's tail twitched and moved. "WHA-WHAT THE HELL?! WHEN'D YOU GROW A TAIL?!"

"Um...Obviously, I didn't have one this morning when I left and I have one now, meaning..." Naruto trailed off sarcastically, motioning for Ao to finish for him. However, she was still too shocked by his changes to even realize what he wanted, making him heave a sigh of frustration and exasperation, hoping that it wasn't going to be a reoccuring event. "Meaning I got the tail while I was gone. Duh."

"S-Shut up!" Ao spat angrily as she blushed heavily out embarrassment from her 'younger brother' teasing her again and talking to her like she was stupid, something he used to do all the time and obviously would continue to do. Deciding to mess with her even more, Naruto brought his tail around and held the end in front of her face, making her nervous as she leaned back slightly. Smirking fiendishly, he made the scales suddenly pop open while channeling a bit of chakra into the spines to make them harden slightly, all while making a squeal-like shrieking sound into his hand and having the end of his tail twist back and forth to make the spines twitch and shake. Having had every last bit of her attention focused on the end of Naruto's tail, Ao actually thought it had made the sound and screamed, falling back and landing on her rear. "AHHH!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto couldn't hold it in and instantly started laughing his ass off, actually having to brace himself against the wall with one hand as he kept his other crossed over his stomach, which was already starting to hurt. Even Haku and Kira were laughing at her, making Ao's blush worsen while her humilation quickly became anger. Jumping to her feet, she stomped over to the towering red head and was about to punch him in the arm for being a jackass when Naruto brought the end of his tail around in front of her face once again, making the same noise and motion as before. Like before, Ao let out another girlish scream of terror, stumbled backwards, and fell once more, only this time, she fainted. He actually started regretting doing that because Naruto now found it very hard to breathe, having dropped to his knees as he kept laughing, which was now coming out more along the lines of a wheeze. Kira had been laughing almost as hard as him, her hand slipping from the doorway and making her fall to the ground with a cry of startlement while Haku was the only one left standing at the moment. It took several minutes for him to finally calm down enough to breathe, grinning cruelly as he started getting back to his feet, still stricken with the occassional snicker as he wiped away a couple tears of laughter that had formed in his eyes. "Oh, my god...I haven't...laughed that hard...in years...Hehehe..."

"Still pulling pranks on Ao, I see." Kuroyuri stated from the end of the hall, having just gotten out of the shower after taking advantage of whatever it was that had distracted Haku. She was currently clad in a pair of her more casual black hakama and a black sleeve-less top, her hair currently wrapped up in a towel to help dry it faster. She mentally paused for a moment as she stared at his new changes, her eyes getting slightly wider than usual for a moment before returning to normal. "Am I correct in assuming that your new...features...are from your bloodline?"

"Yeah. I'm still pretty tired from everything, though." Naruto responded, his body suddenly reminded of how exhausted he actually was. Making his way into the living room and sinking into the couch, Naruto let out a small sigh of relief before simply flopping over onto his side. Although still conscious, he didn't want to move, mostly because his muscles were starting to ache now that they had relaxed. Having trained herself in several 'natural' medical arts that included accupuncture, herbal medicines, and massage therapy, Haku quickly noticed the signs of muscular fatigue and pain. Almost instantly going into what Ao would jokingly call 'nurse mode', Haku disappeared into her room for a couple minutes while Kira finally got back to her feet. Coming back out with some ground up herbs, she set about boiling some water, intending to make a medicinal tea for her little brother. Having a few minutes before the water was ready, Haku went over to him and knelt down beside him.

"Don't worry, otouto. I'll give you something to help with the pain." Haku assured gently with a warm smile, something that made Naruto roll his eyes, but still smile slightly at. Haku had always been a bit of a 'mother hen' at times. Especially when it came to Naruto or Kuroyuri, the youngest of the bunch. Speaking of Kuroyuri, she was busy taking Ao back to her room for the night while Kira made her way back to her own room for something. Getting curious about his tail again, Haku gently grabbed the end and prodded at one of the rock-hard scales a couple times, only for it to slowly open up and reveal the spines inside of it. "Wow...The scales almost remind me of a flower when they open up like that. It's incredible. At least that confirms one of my thoughts; the tail is fully integrated with your nervous and muscular systems, meaning it's obviously permanent and I have no doubt that there are chakra circulatory veins and chakra points in it as well. You also have exceptional control over it, considering you just gained it earlier today. I'm curious about the spines, though."

"Yeah, check those out. You're the doctor of the group. Maybe you can help me figure out what the hell those things do..." Naruto mumbled, having had the scales open up for Haku to inspect them. Haku huffed at Naruto's statement, pouting slightly.

"I'm not a doctor nor am I a veterinarian. I'm only a field medic skilled in advanced first aid, at best, with a high amount of knowledge about human physiology and anatomy with only a basic level of knowledge on human biology, otouto." Haku corrected without looking away from Naruto's tail, carefully using one of her senbon to examine the spines just incase they proved dangerous. Gently pressing one against a scale with the throwing needle, Haku was actually surprised to watch a couple droplets of neon green-ish yellow liquid, which was more than likely a venom or poison of some kind, seep out from the tip of the spine. She leaned to the side slightly and held Naruto's tail a little closer to his face so that he could see the fluid. "I think these quills are connected to venom sacs of some kind, Naruto. Look."

"Weird...You'd think if I had venom, it'd come from my fangs or something, you know?" Naruto responded with a look of child-like curiousity on his face while staring at his tail. He idly wondered what other surprises he had gained. He then moved his tail out of her hand and pointed it at the floor. "Hold on. I want to try something."

"Just take it easy and don't destroy anything. I'll be right back with the tea." Haku advised before leaving the room. Concentrating for a moment, Naruto found it a bit difficult to shape his chakra and figured some chakra control excecises could fix it, but he got the desired effect. Almost instantly, the spines in his tail-club suddenly extended, each one being about six inches long and sticking out in every direction available to them; there were literally dozens of them, creating something akin to a sea urchin in appearance due to the sheer number of needle-like spines sticking out of his tail. Grinning slightly as he imagined the possibilities of using his tail in combat, Naruto let it drop down on the coffee table, only to curse when numerous spines pierced straight through the wood and refused to dislodge themselves. He could lift the table off the ground, for crying out loud! "Ugh, what'd I just tell you?"

"Sorry, it just kind of...happened. Grr, stupid tail! Let go of the table!" Naruto responded a bit sheepishly before glaring at his tail while jerking the end, trying to get it free of the offending object so he could retract the spines. Smacking the table with one of his hands, Naruto was relieved to find that it had come free, but... "Um...Haku? Do you think it's normal for the spines to come off like that?"

"Hold still and let me take a look." Haku ordered after setting down the cup of tea she had made and gently grabbing his tail just beneath the fur, looking at the visible areas where it was missing more than just a handful of the thin and shockingly strong spines. She was actually stunned to watch as the missing spines were replaced in seconds, the new ones growing in their place and extending to look just like the other spines. The spines that had 'broken off' were still as hard as steel and sharp, firmly impaled into the table; she'd have to get them out in the morning. "I'm going to chance a guess here and say that it _is_ normal for that to happen. You might even be able to launch them from your tail with enough practice. DON'T!"

"Aww..._Fine_." Naruto groaned, pouting a little bit as Haku glared at him slightly. Sighing and wondering how her little brother could still be so immature at his age, Haku watched as the spines shrunk back down until they were only about an inch or two long when Naruto retracted the chakra he had pumped into them. She then watched as the scales snapped shut, startling her slightly, but before she could reprimand her little brother, she watched as he struggled a little bit to sit back up, managing after a minute or so. As much as she wanted to help, she knew he was obscenely stubborn and would refuse her assistance anyways. Letting out another sigh, Haku sat down beside him before handing Naruto the cup of medicinal tea.

"Do you need anything else?" She asked kindly, getting a shake of Naruto's head in reponse. "Alright. Now, do you think you can go ten minutes without causing trouble so that I can go and take a shower?"

"Hmph...Love you, too, sis..." Naruto mumbled sarcastically before taking a sip of the tea and cringing. "Ugh...What the hell is in this? Dog shit? OW!"

"What have I told you about cussing?" Haku chastized, but before Naruto could complain about being slapped upside his head or about her complaining about his language, Haku cut him off with a stern glare. "I don't care how old you are; don't cuss or I'll smack you harder."

"Ooh, kinky. I didn't think you were into 'sibling love', Haku-nee-chan." Naruto teased with a cheeky grin while Haku blushed furiously at the insinuation, only to glare at him. Snickering again, Naruto took another sip of the herbal tea and grimaced once more at the taste. It honestly didn't taste that bad once you got used to it, but he couldn't stop giving Haku grief over it; it was too funny.

"Don't make me hit you..." Haku warned, cocking her fist back for added effect even though it would do little to deter her surrogate brother. Letting another snicker slip out, Naruto decided he had tortured her enough and, temporarily, admitted defeat. Satisfied, Haku huffed and stood up, straightening out her top. "I'll be back to check on you in a little bit. For now, just relax and _don't_ leave the couch. One of the herbs I used is a strong muscle relaxer and another was a potent pain killer to help dull the aches and soreness. I'm honestly surprised you can still move your tail or even move at all, but it either hasn't taken effect yet or your tolerance was greater than I suspected. Either way, it should at least help somewhat, just...stay there. Okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time, Dr. Worries-too-damn-much. Just go take your shower." Naruto answered sarcastically, getting another annoyed huff from Haku before she turned to leave. Before she rounded the corner, though, he called out to her, smiling slightly. "Thanks for the help, Haku. I appreciate it."

"No problem, otouto." Haku replied with a smile before disappearing down the hall. Sighing, Naruto finished the tea in his cup and set it down before getting comfortable on the couch, stretching across it with his feet hanging over the arm rest at the end with his tail hanging over it as well from between his feet, the club-like end lying on the ground. Yawning, Naruto stared up at the ceiling out of boredom. By the time Haku came back to check on him, Naruto had already seemingly fallen asleep. Smiling, she grabbed an extra blanket from her room and used it to cover him even though he was naturally warm enough that he wouldn't need it, lightly kissing him on the forehead before washing the cup and going to bed herself. It wasn't for another four hours before Kira silently slipped out of her room and started making her way to the front door.

"Leaving without saying good-bye, huh?" Naruto spoke up from behind her, keeping his voice down so as not to wake the girls. Kira paused and sighed, turning around to face her son. She was surprised when he suddenly hugged her. That act alone made Kira's eyes water and return the embrace. After a few minutes, they pulled apart and Kira stared up at Naruto's face, gently cupping his cheek with one hand as a sad smile formed on her face beneath the wrappings.

"I'm going to miss you, sochi. Even though you're so young, you've been a rock for all of us, helping us stay strong no matter what." Kira whispered softly, her voice cracking slightly with emotion. Choking back a sob, Kira pulled him back down and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him one last time as she gently kissed the side of his head. "You take good care of them, you hear? Don't let them boss you around, either."

"I will. Don't worry about them; they'll be perfectly fine. Just worry about yourself, okay?" Naruto reassured, getting a slow and hesitant nod from the older woman before she slowly broke away from him. She then pulled out the scroll from the Sandaime and handed it to him, telling him that he'll need it to get the girls into Konoha. She was then caught off guard by what he did next. He gently pulled her close once more and kissed the top of her head. "Stay safe, Kaa-san. And I expect a letter from you at least once a month so the girls know you're still with us. Got it?"

"Y-Yeah..." Kira stammered out, struggling to keep herself from breaking down. Forcibly pushing away from him, she tried to dry her eyes and recompose herself a bit. "Cut it out already. You're just making it harder."

"Just so you know, this isn't 'good-bye'. We'll see each other again soon enough." Naruto reasoned before opening the door for her, nodding his head out towards the misty forest. "Now get out of here before I either change my mind or the girls wake up and come looking for you. I'll stall them as much as I can, but I can't gaurantee they won't come looking for you."

"...Thank you...and...take care, Naruto-kun." Kira replied softly before taking off, Kubikiri Houcho slung across her back and her things stored in a scroll that was stashed between her breasts. Sighing heavily, Naruto slowly closed the door and went back to the couch, sitting down and slouching in his spot...

When morning came around, Naruto stood up and started making breakfast, the smell eventually waking his sisters. He had taken precautionary measures last night and placed a seal on the house that made it virtually impossible to get out without pretty much destroying the building itself or releasing the seal. He wanted to at least give Kira a decent head-start if one of, or all three, girls get passed him and tried to track her down to either go with her or to talk her out of leaving. While he didn't want her to go either, he knew it was actually a bit selfish to try and keep her from leaving. Besides, he found nothing wrong with her arguement and it made things...easier, in a way, for their separation, but it also made things emotionally complicated. Sighing, Naruto pushed those thoughts to the side as he got everyone's plates ready and set them down on the table just as his three sisters entered the dining room, each one still dressed in their sleep-wear and only just starting to wake up completely. As they sat down and started eating, Haku noticed the something wasn't right.

"Otouto? Where's Kira-sama? She's usually the first one up." Haku inquired curiously, but Naruto stayed silent as he ate, not even looking up from his plate. Narrowing her eyes, Haku started getting worried and suspicious, already in the process of standing as she spoke up again. "I'm going to go look for her. Excu-"

"_Sit_." Naruto commanded sharply and firmly, yet quietly, his tone startling all three girls. Too shocked by her little brother's sudden fierceness, Haku could do little more than obey, slowly sinking back into her chair with a hint of fear present in her expression and body language. He ignored them for the most part after that, never looking up from his plate until they were all finished. Collecting the plates, Naruto had a Kage Bunshin wash them while taking his place back at the table. Pulling out the scroll Kira gave him the day before, Naruto unrolled it and unsealed the scrolls stored in the storage seals marked 'Red', 'Blue', 'Black', and 'White'. Slowly passing each scroll to their respective recipients and keeping his own beside him, Naruto decided it was about time to start explaining. "Kira left last night around three in the morning. She won't be coming back."

"What?! Why?!" Ao exclaimed while Haku's eyes widened with fear and worry. Kuroyuri seemed just as shocked as the other two, but had just barely managed to school her features to maintain her usual air of stoicism despite her own pain and heartbreak at their adoptive mother's departure. Before they could get any further in their demands for answers, Naruto took a deep breath while holding up a hand. Almost instantly, Ao went silent and sunk back into her chair. If the situation hadn't been so serious, Naruto would have actually been a bit surprised with how much control he currently held over them at the moment. Naruto pulled out the scroll from the Hokage and calmly set it down on the table.

"Three months ago, Kira got in contact with the Hokage. Since then, she and the Hokage had been working out a deal. That deal involved you three." Naruto started explaining. "Simply put, Kira did it in order to keep you from being cursed with the life as a missing-nin like herself. She wanted to give you a chance at a normal life back in Konoha with me."

"But we-" Haku's arguement was stopped before it could even really begin when Naruto leveled a steely glare on her.

"She can not legally adopt you because of her status. She can not return to Kiri because of her status. She can not join another Hidden Village because of her status. She can not stop running because of her status. Is _THAT_ the life you want to live for the rest of your life, Haku? Is it?! Do you want to have to keep looking over your shoulder every five minutes because of the hunter-nin chasing you down, day in and day out?! To worry about whether you're going to live through the day and through the night to see the next damn _sunrise_?!" Naruto growled out before his voice increased in volume to the point he was yelling, slamming his fist down on the table in his anger at the end and startling his sisters while he glared down at the table in front of him. He briefly took a deep breath to calm down a little bit, his tone growing quieter. "You think I wanted her to go? My first thought when she told me about all of this was if I could figure out a way for her to come to Konoha with us. Trust me, Haku; the last thing I wanted was for something like this to happen. She asked me to give each of you the scrolls I just handed out after she left. I suggest you read them and do your best to understand her position. Would you all have honestly let her go if you had been present last night? Would you have honestly left her behind when you left for Konoha?"

"..." None of them answered, each of the girls turning their gaze downward. They didn't need to answer for Naruto to know what they would have said.

"She's doing this so you can have a better life. So that you can have a family of your _own_ one day." Naruto urged in a hushed tone, his eyes narrowed slightly. Standing up with his own scroll in hand, Naruto decided to leave them with a few parting words of advice before going back to the living room to read the letter she had left him. "She did this because she loves you. Don't disrespect her wishes."

"..." All three girls remained silent as they stared down at their scrolls while Naruto left the room. A few silent and tense minutes later, Ao snatched up her scroll and ran to her room with tears in her eyes, slamming the door behind her. Kuroyuri followed, gently picking up her scroll and walking back to her room, subdued by the entire situation. Haku was the last one to move, looking much like a scared rabbit as she made her way back to her room, clutching her scroll to her chest as if it were the only thing keeping her alive at the moment. Sighing as they went to their rooms, Naruto finally opened his scroll and started reading...

_"Dear Naruto-kun, if you're reading this, then I've already left. I know it might not affect you as harshly as it will the girls since you've been gone for the past few years, but I want you to know that I love you like a son. I'll never be able to have children of my own because of an old injury I got when I was younger, but I don't care. I still had the family I had always wanted. I wouldn't trade you four for the world. I know I never said it very often, but I love you, sochi. Always remember that. I hope the girls aren't being too difficult about me leaving; I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble. I honestly don't have much else to say, I'm sorry, but there are a few things I want you to do for me._

_Inside the seal at the bottom-left corner is a letter I want you to give someone. I'm not asking you to go out looking for her, but if you ever come across a woman by the name of Terumii Mei, please give her the letter. Don't worry about not knowing who she is; I put a picture of her with the scroll. In the middle seal, there are three scrolls, each one containing even more scrolls; they're for helping train the girls while I'm gone. In the seal on the bottom-right are a couple more scrolls; these are for you, sort of an apology gift, if you want to call it that._

_Again, I'm sorry for dumping all of this on you so suddenly, but it was honestly the only thing I could think of. I'm sure I told you this before I left, but I've been wanting to find a way for the girls to live a normal life ever since the night we thought you died in Namiyoke. I didn't want that kind of fate for them. To die before they had found their first love or before they could start a family...Please, take care of them for me, Naruto. Keep them safe and keep them happy. Good luck, sochi. I love you..._

_With love and affection,_

_Momochi "Kira" Kirara"_

"I love you, too, Kaa-san..." Naruto whispered softly as he slowly rolled the scroll back up, deciding to give the girls the day to grieve. Tomorrow morning, he would take them to Tazuna's before Kakashi left for guard duty and explain everything to the jounin before starting the girls in their training the day after. Being the only one with the ability to undo the effects of the seal, Naruto left the house and went to a tree not too far away before summoning roughly five dozen Kage Bunshin. "Alright, my chakra control is messed up again, so now it's time to fix it. Split up into teams of twelve. One team will focus on Tree Walking, another will be working on Water Walking, and the third and fourth groups will be practicing Fire, Earth, and Water manipulation with eight working on each element. The fifth group will be responsible for practicing some taijutsu to get used to fighting with a tail as well as working on incorperating it into our style. Get to work."

Without a word, each of his clones went about their assigned tasks while Naruto went back to the house. While the clones wouldn't be able to actually do anything productive that concerned physical training, his clones working on taijutsu and fighting with his tail would still transfer the muscle memory of their movements back to him, at least giving him a bit of experience in using his new tail in combat without messing him up. Sitting back down on the couch, Naruto started working on removing the spines he had accidentally jammed into the table last night. It took him almost an hour, but he finally pulled the last one free. Not wanting to waste them or anything, Naruto sealed them away in a storage scroll, which was pocketed a moment later. That was when he heard a bedroom door open...

"N-Nii-s-san..." Haku hiccupped softly from the doorway, tears still streaming down her face as she stood there, her head bowed. Idly noting that she was dressed in a pair of baggy dark blue pajama pants with white snow flake designs covering the thin leggings and a white tank top while her hair had been let down, Naruto sighed softly before wordlessly motioning her over. Almost instantly, she rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him, sobbing quietly into his chest. Slowly pulling her closer, Naruto repositioned themselves so that they were on the couch completely and leaning back slightly with her leaning into him before gently rubbing Haku's back. Although she started sobbing louder and crying harder as she squeezed him with all of her strength, Naruto didn't stop. After almost twenty minutes, Naruto heard another door open followed by the appearance of Ao. She looked no better than Haku, her eyes read and puffy from crying as tears still fell from them, her normally neat short hair now looking a bit mussed up.

"..." Ao was quiet for a moment and didn't move right away, but she didn't need to be told to go to him before she slowly walked over to the red head, lying down on the couch beside him and resting her head on his stomach with her arms wrapped around his waist. She simply laid there with her eyes open as tears kept falling, but she never made a sound. Finally last, but not least, Kuroyuri entered the room a couple minutes later and sat down directly beside Naruto, giving him a moment to adjust his position a little so that Kuroyuri could curl up beside him with her back to his side and her legs tucked under her, clutching his arm a bit tight as she trembled. Although she was crying just as much as her 'sisters', Kuroyuri's facial expression hadn't changed much its usual emotionless appearance and she barely made a sound. Leaning her head back and to the side so that it was resting on Naruto's chest, Kuroyuri took a deep and slow breath that came out shaky as her lip quivered, only to slowly bury her face into his shoulder, shaking even worse than before as she silently cried harder, her breaths gasping and riddled with hiccups.

Staying silent, Naruto simply held Haku and Kuroyuri closer and tighter while coiling his tail around Ao's body and thighs in a psuedo-hug. Instead of freaking out like she had before, Ao actually relaxed a bit more, letting her eyes close as she simply laid there, curling up a little more. It wasn't long before, one by one, they cried themselves to sleep, each one emotionally exhausted and now sleeping peacefully with their brother. While he didn't mind letting his adopted sisters use him like a giant teddy bear, Naruto still let out a quiet sigh, knowing it would be _at least_ a few hours before he would be able to move again. At the same time, however, Naruto's mind was currently engaged in a struggle between his more 'brotherly' side and his usually dormant and minor 'perverted' side from having his beautiful and well-endowed adopted sisters pressed against him as they slept...

_'Fucking damn white haired asshole...I'm going to kill that bastard the next time I see him...'_ Naruto mentally growled out as he glared up at the ceiling, contemplating the many ways he could and _would_ use to torture and kill the man he had run into while traveling through Lightning Country. At first, he swore he heard a high-pitched girlish scream of fear and pain out in the far distance, but dismissed it as his imagination...

xXx

As mid-afternoon approached, Naruto led his adopted sisters to Tazuna's home to introduce them to his team and their clients after they woke up and went about getting cleaned up and dressed. It didn't take them long to reach them shore-side house and just as they entered the clearing it was located in, Kakashi walked outside with Sasuke and Hinata, having probably suspected an attack of some kind. Naruto's thoughts were confirmed when the jounin relaxed his stand slightly.

"I guess you finally reached the Ascended Stage, right?" Kakashi inquired, getting a brief nod from Naruto. "And these are the kunoichi Kirara-san told me that are going to be joining Konoha, correct?"

"Yeah." Naruto replied curtly before introducing them to his team, who he then introduced to his adoptive sisters. He was about to ask Kakashi to speak with him in private when he heard Sasuke mutter something under his breath.

"_Great_...More weak and pathetic women..." The Uchiha mumbled quietly before glancing away off to the side with disinterest in the conversation. Unfortunately, he failed to take into account that Naruto's hearing was greater than the average human's. A moment later, Kakashi reached out to try blocking Naruto's advancement, only to get batted away with a back hand from the tailed genin before he roughly grabbed Sasuke by the throat and lifted him up off the ground, glaring into his eyes.

"Care to say that again? I don't think I heard you right..." Naruto hissed quietly as his killing intent started to leak out, his eyes narrowed dangerously. Clutching at the wrist connected to the hand wrapped around his neck, Sasuke tried to give a defiant glare, only to suddenly become fearful when he watched Naruto's irises gradually shift from red to gold, his killing intent, while not much in amount, became almost ten times more potent than before. Unable to look away from Naruto's eyes no matter how much he wanted to, Sasuke started to sweat slightly. He was given a moment of relief, however, when Kakashi moved to stop the red head from continuing, only to be stopped in his tracks when Naruto turned his gaze to the silver haired jounin for a moment, focusing his killing intent on Kakashi in the process. Looking back to the Uchiha as his eyes changed back to red while he drew his killing intent back in, Naruto snarled at the smaller male held in his hand. "If I _ever_ hear you insult a female like that again...you _will_ be reunited with your dead clansmen. Do you understand me, you little fucking bastard?"

"..." Sasuke, unable to speak due to the constriction of his throat, could only manage a slight nod. A moment later, Naruto dropped him, but before he could even touch the ground, Sasuke was suddenly doubled over in mid-air as Naruto brought his right foot up and kicked him in the stomach, sending him tumbling back for several meters. Sliding to a stop, Sasuke didn't move from his spot as he curled up around his stomach, the painful blow having undoubtedly caused moderately high bruising at the least while simultaneously knocking the wind out of his lungs, leaving him coughing and gasping for breath as he desperately tried to regain the ability to breathe properly. Hinata looked frightened by the sudden display of violence, something Naruto idly noticed and decided to finally start working on fixing.

"That wasn't necessary, otouto." Haku muttered quietly to the red head when he walked back over to them. Naruto simply snorted out a cloud of smoke and didn't respond, instead turning back to Kakashi.

"I've already warned you about him once, Hatake. This makes strike two. If he slips up one more time..." Naruto trailed off, leaving Kakashi's imagination to fill in the blanks. Kakashi became slightly worried for the Uchiha's health and safety, recalling the boy's 'first offense'. It had been a couple days after they were teamed up when Sasuke made an off-handed comment about Hinata being 'dead-weight' and a 'useless coward'. Naruto, who had been standing near the Uchiha, had heard it and didn't take too kindly to such blatant disrespect. He had then proceeded to kick Sasuke in the head, sending him crashing into a tree almost twenty feet away with enough force to give him a concussion and several minor fractures from impacting the tree. Kakashi could only suspect that Sasuke didn't suffer any truly serious injury this time was because they were on a mission. Naruto then turned back towards the three kunoichi behind him. "I want you three to go back to the hideout and _stay_ there. If you go looking for her, I'll know and I won't be happy when I catch you and drag you back. Got it?"

"Hai..." Came the three subdued responses of acknowledgement. They weren't arrogant enough to believe they could get away without their little brother knowing; he always did have a natural talent for knowing when someone did something and had good enough instincts to know what it was. He also had enhanced senses, making it easy for him to track them down and with a temper like his, they weren't stupid enough to do anything that would truly upset him.

"Good. I have to stay with me team for now until the mission is complete. If anything strange happens, let me know. I've got a feeling that something is going to happen soon, but I don't know what. All I know is that it won't be good." Naruto advised, getting a nod from all three of his 'sisters'. He then addressed the eldest. "Haku, I'm trusting you on this, but I'm leaving you in charge until I get back. Stay safe and don't leave the hideout unless its absolutely necessary."

"Hai." The masked Hyouton-weilder responded before they left moments later as they were dismissed. As soon as they were gone, Naruto heard the sound of rapid footsteps heading in his direction. Turning around and jumping back slightly, he easily avoided Sasuke's roundhouse kick.

"Sasuke! What are you doing?!" Kakashi demanded, only to be ignored while Sasuke attempted to throw a punch at Naruto. Side-stepping the attack, Naruto narrowed his eyes and drove his knee into the Uchiha's stomach, doubling him over and knocking the wind out of his lungs a second time. Grabbing the back of his shirt, Naruto slung him away from him.

"Kakashi, if he wants an ass-kicking then let him get his ass kicked. I'll be more than glad to give it to him." Naruto growled out, strangely calm despite being attacked by the younger and shorter male. Looking to Sasuke as he started getting back to his feet, Naruto narrowed his eyes again. "In fact, why don't we get a few things straightened out while we're at it..."

Naruto was actually a little surprised when Kakashi simply sighed and stepped back with Hinata, giving the two some space...

"Get _what_ straightened out, you freak?! Just stop acting tough already! You're nothing compared the Uchiha elite!" Sasuke snarled, his arrogance and anger towards the red head boiling over and preventing him from thinking things through properly as he rushed Naruto again. Instead of dodging or counter-attacking, Naruto simply caught Sasuke's right fist in his left hand and held onto it. Almost instantly, Sasuke tried to use the hold as leverage, jumping up and lashing out at Naruto's head with his left leg, only for it to be caught in Naruto's right hand. Before he could attempt another attack, however, Naruto pulled the two limbs outward while bringing him closer and cocking his head back.

"Ryuu no Monshou!" Naruto snarled before bashing his head against Sasuke's, letting him go at the same time. The blow launched Sasuke straight down to the ground, but as he bounced off the ground from the force of the impact, Naruto swung his left foot forward, slipping it under him and kicking him several meters away, skipping and rolling the entire way. Snorting again, Naruto cracked his knuckles and popped his neck. "So, you think you're 'Billy Badass' just because you're an _Uchiha_? Just because you got a nasty case of Pink Eye? Just because your brother slaughtered your clan and pretty much mind-fucked you into becoming a psychopathic retard? That's rich...You want to know why I act like I do? Because I can back up my words, you stupid brat. I act like I do because it keeps people away from me. What people doesn't understand, they fear. What they fear, they hate. What they hate...they destroy."

"Shut up! You don't know anything!" Sasuke spat venomously through gnashed teeth as he started getting back up yet again, making Naruto let out a heavy sigh of annoyance and frustration. Yeah, he was going to be having a talk with the Sandaime when they got back. He _was not_ going to force himself to endure being on the same team as that insufferable runt any longer. The only reason he wasn't putting him in his place _properly_ was because they were out on a mission and, as much as he hated to admit it, the boy might come in handy at some point, like a distraction or something, and any serious injuries might hinder him too much to be of any use. Rolling his eyes when Sasuke charged him again, Naruto spun around Sasuke's poorly executed punch and slammed the club-like end of his tail into the Uchiha's back just between his shoulder blades while enough force to stun him and make his body lock up from the pain. Before he could cry out in pain, however, Naruto had already struck the back of Sasuke's neck, knocking him out and making him gracelessly collapse into a boneless heap.

"...Fucking moron..." Naruto hissed out quietly before turning around and heading over to Hinata while Kakashi went to check on Sasuke to make sure he was alright and take him inside. Staring down at the girl that stared up at him with a frightened look, Naruto hid his anger at her cowardice along with the disappointment of instilling such fear into people around him that didn't actually have any reason to be afraid of him. "You. Follow me."

"W-What? W-Why?" Hinata stuttered out quietly and nervously. Snorting out a cloud of black smoke that made the small girl cough slightly, Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Because you need to grow a fucking spine. That's why. Because of the Uchiha, I'm not in a very good mood any more so it would be in your best interests to listen to me." Naruto growled out before turning and walking a few meters away, only to stop and glance back at her when Hinata didn't move. "It _wasn't_ a suggestion, Hyuuga. Now _move_!"

"H-Hai!" Hinata squeaked out before timidly rushing over and following him into the forest. Kakashi could only narrow his eyes slightly, still kneeling beside Sasuke's unconscious form. More things he would have to put into the report and more things he would have to speak with the Hokage about, but...not about possibly dismissing the towering genin's actions and behavior. If anything, his opinion of the Slayer had shifted drastically. While back in Konoha, it wasn't uncommon for Naruto and Sasuke to get into physical conflicts that resulted in Sasuke sustaining an injury of some sort every time, but that wasn't so bad since it was always on the training field and Naruto never had any actual ill will towards the Uchiha. Now, however, Naruto had not only assaulted Sasuke while out on a mission, but had also hinted at more than just smacking the boy around. Not only that, but he was now asserting his 'dominance' over the team as a whole as well.

Yes, he would have to have a long and serious discussion with the Sandaime Hokage about the Uzumaki...

xXx

"What did you discover, Hinote?" The leader of the three inquired as the woman walked into to their camp site.

Yakeyama Hinote, twenty-seven years old, was a former Iwa jounin, just like the ninja she was with. She stood at 5'5" with tanned skin, reddish-brown auburn hair bearing natural red-orange tips and highlights that had been pulled back into a high pony-tail that reached just past the base of her neck, brown eyes, and a slender athletic build that bore a slight hourglass figure and B-cup breasts. She was clad in a pair of dark brown shorts that ended inches away from half-way down her thighs, a dark brown knee-length leather battle-skirt wrapped around the sides and back of her thighs with a dark red knee-length strip of cloth hanging from the front in the middle, a dark red sleeveless turtleneck top covering her torso, a form-fitting dark brown Iwa flak vest over her top, dark red bicep-high fingerless gloves on her arms with dark brown leather straps around her biceps to keep them from slipping in combat, dark brown thigh-high kunoichi boots with slightly raised heels that made her appear a little taller, and her scratched Iwa hitai-ate tied around her waist on a strip of dark red cloth with the plate resting at her right hip. She also had a pair of plain steel hoop ear rings in either ear along with a pair of steel studs just above either of them, her fingernails painted dark red with a fiery orange dot in the center of each fingernail while her lips were painted dark red as well with the middle of her bottom lip being painted fiery orange. She was once known as Iwa's Phoenix due to her being a specialist in Katon ninjutsu.

"The Succubus left Wave Country last night for some reason, but I don't think she'll be coming back. Her three traveling companions were left behind, however. As for the Red Devil, he and his team are having cooperation issues." Hinote responded in a semi-bored and disinterested tone as she walked past her leader and sat down on a log they had placed near the camp fire. "Other than that, there is nothing of importance to report. Nothing else has changed since I last checked."

"Then we have an advantage now. We stick to the schedule and attack tomorrow, but we'll wait for the Red Devil to separate from his team. Hitome, you'll take those three girls. I'll confront the Red Devil myself. As for you, Guren, I want you to take care of the Copy Cat." The leader explained as he leaned forward slightly from the middle of the group, leaning his elbows on his knees.

Akarenga Guren, twenty-five, stood at 5'8" with lightly tanned skin, dark red hair that fell to just past her shoulders in a shaggy mane, light yellow-green eyes, and a more definite hourglass figure with a C-cup bust. She was dressed in a dark crimson body-hugging long-sleeve Chinese-style dress covered in black tiger stripes with baggy sleeves that ended just a couple inches past her hands and slits running up the sides of the dress up to her hips, black spandex short-shorts under the dress with knee-length fishnet leggings, black elbow-length fingerless gloves covering her hands and forearms under the sleeves of her top, dark red bracers strapped over them with three retractable steel claws attached to the top of either bracer, black open-toe kunoichi sandals, and her slashed Iwa hitai-ate tied around neck on a band of black cloth. Prior to leaving Iwa, Guren had made a name for herself as Iwa's Crimson Tiger due to her choice in weapons and her dress.

"Hai." Both women responded simultaneously. Their leader, Yamadera Mashira, stood at 5'11" with a lean athletic build geared more towards speed and flexibility than brute strength, something a lot of Iwa's male ninja seemed to prefer, but he was far from being weak. He had short and messy bright platinum blonde hair, black eyes, and sun-tanned skin while a four foot long monkey tail covered in fur the same color as his hair stuck out from a hole in the back of his pants. He was dressed simply in a pair of faded blue jeans with rips in the knees and held up with a white belt, a white long-sleeve button-up shirt that was left completely open to reveal his muscled torso with the sleeves rolled up above his elbows, black elbow-length fingerless gloves on his forearms with red armor covering his forearms and the back of his hands with red metal studs on his knuckles, black closed-toe sandals on his feet, and his hitai-ate hanging from his belt at his right hip on a strip of black cloth. Handing from around his neck was a simple gold chain. He was Iwa's Monkey King, a taijutsu specialist.

_'I'm going to kill you this time, Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to enjoy watching you suffer...'_ Mashira thought to himself as he stared at the fire, a small smirk of cruelty and malice forming on his lips...

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Otouto- Little Brother

Sochi- Son

Hinote- Blaze

Yakeyama- Dormant Volcano

Akarenga- Red Brick

Yamadera- Mountain Temple

Mashira- Monkey


End file.
